SMALL BANKS
After staring off into space for ten minutes, I figured I better put down some drivel or I would be facing angry mobs of loyal minions carrying torches and pitchforks. For lack of anything interesting to talk about today, let's discuss small banks. Yes, they are failing left and right. Eventually, so will large banks. But this time, we won't see anyone's money disappearing with his bank. This time around, you get all of your money back. The only problem with that is that the money won't be worth squat. Just like your retirement. Even if your state goes bankrupt, the federal government will step in and take over the payments. With Monopoly money of course. Today the danger is not losing your money, it actually getting it.
*
I'm sure we all know that hyper inflation is coming. Perhaps we feel it won't come fast enough to effect us. That we can prepare in time. It certainly doesn't seem that anyone is acting too worried. But even the small amount of inflation we've had is noticeable. Gas at twice the price. Basic food stuffs twice the cost. Wages flat to falling. And already, as the media talks about billions and trillions, no one bats an eye. So banks are the least of our problems. I actually think that the string of bank failures is an extension of TARP. The only reason the banks are showing a profit ( to get the last of the suckers to buy their stock ) is from the bailout money and the freeze on credit. Since the TARP money is already spent, the only other way to keep the free money coming in is through the FDIC. A small bank fails, the FDIC steps in and buys all the toxic debt with tax dollars ( which I don't concern myself with since there will never be enough taxpayer money to ever pay all this slop off-it will be paid by the printing presses ) and a larger bank throws in a little cash to make it look good. I doubt they spent more than what they can squeeze out of it. It is a fire sale.
*
You might be wondering why you should even keep money in the bank at all. I look at it like the best of the worse choices. You are going to lose some of your money. The game is to try to lose the least amount possible. If you only use cash or a pre-paid debit card, folks will know you have cash at home. An invitation to theft. Yes, a safe is a good idea but only if you have enough valuables to pay for that cost. If you leave the money in the bank I doubt it will ever evaporate into a black hole. You'll be compensated in less valuable Greenbacks. Once all the banks go under you have more to worry about than paper money. Then the only thing that matters will be how many cans of Spam or rounds of ammo you have. Myself, I worry more about robbery than bank insolvency. So I keep my account full of my slush fund. $500 for a years extra expenses such as car insurance and gifts for the kids, and $500 for my rainy day fund. It might hurt eventually losing that, but I have plenty of Spam and ammo I'm more worried about.
*
Inflation sucks, but you can't really negate all of its effects. You only have so much storage space for food, and converting to gold is both dangerous and impractical. It has a theft problem and a market fluctuation that does not work well for short term use. Gold is a long term wealth storage medium, not a way to pay bills short term. So you are just going to have to suck it up a bit with rising prices. In the end, we are all back to using barter. In the mean time, you accept smaller packages for more money. I could get into all that, but that might make another article one day. For now, here is your good news for the month. I love to throw bad news your way as fast as I can. But I guess I have to be nice once in awhile. So I'm throwing you a bone. I think bank failures are at the bottom of the list of things we need to worry about right now. With the understanding that when your bank does fail there is still the possibility you won't get paid back immediately. There might be delays if another bank doesn't step in as a buyer immediately. So plan accordingly around that.
*
But basically, worry about the money losing purchasing power, not the money disappearing.
END
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
nuke 2
NUKE 2
Three days a month I am rudely pulled from my scheduled lunch time writing, the two paydays and when government commodities are delivered. This really messes up my routine and my article that day is usually not 100% up to snuff. So today I am going to continue yesterdays article and make it better. Or, if you want to be all nasty and cynical and sarcastic ( which is okay, since that means you want to be just like me- your hero ) you could say now I'm ruining two days instead of one. Before we do that, you simply must go visit the following after you read my drivel, bask in my glory, visit www.bisonpress.com to buy my crap and e-mail all your friends telling them to do the same. www.energybulletin.net/node/48990 has a great article by Ruppert, who has a published book, Crossing The Rubicon which I adore, and his own DVD's and used to run From The Wilderness and so you might think he's successful and knows what he is talking about. Which means, hopefully, that even though you ignore me and won't panic about the end of civilization at 9:53 am on January 5th 2010 ( give or take a few years ) you might listen to him. Seriously, this is a great article that should be the sum of all your fears. If you like him and want more, go to http://www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com/.
*
A loyal minion commented that there isn't enough junk land for all of us to panic. So you had better act fast. My Texas and Arizona land is still for sale. And, you can still squat on my Elko land. An acre 15 from town, very secluded. Or, another lot half that distance. You'll need a trailer, no permanent structures. And you'll need to haul water and sewer. Like anywhere else, there are few jobs here. Female applicants, single with low standards, will be given preference.
*
The odds of this country getting nuked are pretty good. I would place the highest likelihood on another false flag operation. The intelligence industry has a long and colorful history of assassinations, coup's and black ops. They overthrow South American governments, assassinated Kennedy ( on orders from the central bank ), make the most money off of the drug trade ( now you know why they won't legalize it ), and had something to do with OKC and the World Trade Center. Even the Magic Flaming Fuel Theory can't explain why the third tower way the hell gone and far removed from the first two fell in a similar fashion without being hit by a plane. Perhaps we don't need a push into martial law and total fascist government ( we've just been playing at it so far ). Perhaps the economy will scare the last hold outs for freedom into Uncle Obammy's arms. But if we need any help, you can bet our puppet masters are at least thinking about nuking a city to provide the needed boost. I would vote on New York City. If I was one of the Super Elite in charge of these things, my reasoning would be this. Those stupid asses were given plenty of warnings. First in the 70's when all the ghettos burned. Then when we planted the first bomb and blamed some blind towel head. Then when we blew the towers for real. If they are stupid enough to still be living in the city when we nuke it, well, Darwinistic selection.
*
Now, given that the bulk of the US population lives near a waterway, it would be really smart to blow a nuke in a container in port. Suddenly, most people realize it could happen next door to them. Evidently, our government could care less about security as demonstrated by the border with Mexico. I understand that they wanted cheap labor to benefit the corporations. And I understand that now that there are no more jobs here the immigrants won't go anywhere else except to California so they can get on welfare. However, since a burro could smuggle in a suitcase nuke, I would think they would want to seal off the border. That they don't care tells me they need an excuse for that false flag op.
*
Remember when China surfaced a sub in the middle of a carrier group and we were all embarrassed a few years back. Since I'm no longer in the army I don't even feel the need to make a navy joke of a "domestic partner" nature to explain that. If China can do that, could they get up next to our shores undetected and lob a nuke at the capital? My bet would be that Clinton was the only member in the line of succession that wouldn't be in town that day. Hell, her old man sold out to the Chinks for half a million. Her price can't be too much higher, even figuring in the start of hyperinflation. How long would it take a missile to travel to the capital from that short a distance? Long enough to detect it and notify His Holiness Our Black Knight so he could scamper down into his hole?
*
Would the Chinese park the sub off of North Korea and lob a missile at L.A.? Then we blame it on those poor bastards. I don't know enough details about back tracking a trajectory, or even if a small sub missile has that range. But it is an intriguing possibility. What about if North Korea entered into starvation and unrest as no more oil reached them as global supplies shrank and the Chinese took in their leader under asylum if he agreed to launch against the west from his country? Hell, as silly as that sounds, why not throw in the possibility that the Soviets smuggled in sleeper cells with nukes decades ago. Anything is possible. Something as simple as a fishing boat with a terrorist nuke aboard. Isn't Galveston a huge petrol processor?
*
There are so many ways to attack us it isn't even funny.
END
Three days a month I am rudely pulled from my scheduled lunch time writing, the two paydays and when government commodities are delivered. This really messes up my routine and my article that day is usually not 100% up to snuff. So today I am going to continue yesterdays article and make it better. Or, if you want to be all nasty and cynical and sarcastic ( which is okay, since that means you want to be just like me- your hero ) you could say now I'm ruining two days instead of one. Before we do that, you simply must go visit the following after you read my drivel, bask in my glory, visit www.bisonpress.com to buy my crap and e-mail all your friends telling them to do the same. www.energybulletin.net/node/48990 has a great article by Ruppert, who has a published book, Crossing The Rubicon which I adore, and his own DVD's and used to run From The Wilderness and so you might think he's successful and knows what he is talking about. Which means, hopefully, that even though you ignore me and won't panic about the end of civilization at 9:53 am on January 5th 2010 ( give or take a few years ) you might listen to him. Seriously, this is a great article that should be the sum of all your fears. If you like him and want more, go to http://www.mikeruppert.blogspot.com/.
*
A loyal minion commented that there isn't enough junk land for all of us to panic. So you had better act fast. My Texas and Arizona land is still for sale. And, you can still squat on my Elko land. An acre 15 from town, very secluded. Or, another lot half that distance. You'll need a trailer, no permanent structures. And you'll need to haul water and sewer. Like anywhere else, there are few jobs here. Female applicants, single with low standards, will be given preference.
*
The odds of this country getting nuked are pretty good. I would place the highest likelihood on another false flag operation. The intelligence industry has a long and colorful history of assassinations, coup's and black ops. They overthrow South American governments, assassinated Kennedy ( on orders from the central bank ), make the most money off of the drug trade ( now you know why they won't legalize it ), and had something to do with OKC and the World Trade Center. Even the Magic Flaming Fuel Theory can't explain why the third tower way the hell gone and far removed from the first two fell in a similar fashion without being hit by a plane. Perhaps we don't need a push into martial law and total fascist government ( we've just been playing at it so far ). Perhaps the economy will scare the last hold outs for freedom into Uncle Obammy's arms. But if we need any help, you can bet our puppet masters are at least thinking about nuking a city to provide the needed boost. I would vote on New York City. If I was one of the Super Elite in charge of these things, my reasoning would be this. Those stupid asses were given plenty of warnings. First in the 70's when all the ghettos burned. Then when we planted the first bomb and blamed some blind towel head. Then when we blew the towers for real. If they are stupid enough to still be living in the city when we nuke it, well, Darwinistic selection.
*
Now, given that the bulk of the US population lives near a waterway, it would be really smart to blow a nuke in a container in port. Suddenly, most people realize it could happen next door to them. Evidently, our government could care less about security as demonstrated by the border with Mexico. I understand that they wanted cheap labor to benefit the corporations. And I understand that now that there are no more jobs here the immigrants won't go anywhere else except to California so they can get on welfare. However, since a burro could smuggle in a suitcase nuke, I would think they would want to seal off the border. That they don't care tells me they need an excuse for that false flag op.
*
Remember when China surfaced a sub in the middle of a carrier group and we were all embarrassed a few years back. Since I'm no longer in the army I don't even feel the need to make a navy joke of a "domestic partner" nature to explain that. If China can do that, could they get up next to our shores undetected and lob a nuke at the capital? My bet would be that Clinton was the only member in the line of succession that wouldn't be in town that day. Hell, her old man sold out to the Chinks for half a million. Her price can't be too much higher, even figuring in the start of hyperinflation. How long would it take a missile to travel to the capital from that short a distance? Long enough to detect it and notify His Holiness Our Black Knight so he could scamper down into his hole?
*
Would the Chinese park the sub off of North Korea and lob a missile at L.A.? Then we blame it on those poor bastards. I don't know enough details about back tracking a trajectory, or even if a small sub missile has that range. But it is an intriguing possibility. What about if North Korea entered into starvation and unrest as no more oil reached them as global supplies shrank and the Chinese took in their leader under asylum if he agreed to launch against the west from his country? Hell, as silly as that sounds, why not throw in the possibility that the Soviets smuggled in sleeper cells with nukes decades ago. Anything is possible. Something as simple as a fishing boat with a terrorist nuke aboard. Isn't Galveston a huge petrol processor?
*
There are so many ways to attack us it isn't even funny.
END
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
nukes soon
NUKES SOON
Okay, before I forget again, big hugs and little kisses to www.tslrf.blogspot.com . The Monday post was on picking survival guns. I might not wholeheartedly agree with the Glock pick, but all in all the best arsenal choice I've seen in a long time. Why? Because it was from a focus on toughness. Not little darling, cute, need to coddle and caress, but guns you can beat the hell out of politicians with and then turn around without missing a beat and shoot the lawyers and bankers. Not using an anemic little poodle shooter round. Of course, by admitting that the Lee-Enfield was the rifle of choice, they forever cemented a place in my heart. What's my e-mail handle? What's the exit number of Elko? I would also like to thank Jay from MD for the snail mail donation. Very generous, indeedily.
*
Now, I know that at least once a week I give out a piercing, girlish scream of fear and point with a trembling finger to yet another looming disaster that we should all drop everything to worry about. It isn't really my intention to convey too much worry in and of itself. We all know something bad is going to happen. We just don't known when and exactly what. These attacks of anxiety are really nothing more than gaming possibilities and pointing out potential areas of concern. So that you may, if you are inclined to agree, take certain extra precautions. Since this week Uncle Obammy is trying to focus our attention on his left hand while his right hand puts a little more sand on the dildo he's about to shove up our rear orifice, it seems topical to discuss nuclear weapons being used. I don't know what all the fuss is about, frankly. Oh, I realize some is misdirection to take our attention off the economy. But I'm sure there is plenty of genuine concern out there. That North Korea will nuke South Korea. I can't remember the percentage of the population that lives in Soul but it is a significant number. One small yield nuke will wipe out the country. Why? Because with the economic meltdown, the South no longer has surplus wealth it can bribe the north with. One nuke, and suddenly there are a lot more rice fields available. It's only far fetched until the US is distracted enough the north feels it can get away with it. And don't think China is a deterrent. They would love to see thirty thousand American troops gone from the region ( I'm discounting Japan of course, but once our treasury is empty after Zimbabwe inflation so will our military bases in both countries- so you can add to that figure of thirty grand ).
*
Aren't we getting ready to help Israel with an attack on Iran? I might be a bit fuzzy on those details. Perhaps Israel can't get our help so they will do it on their own. No matter, the odds are good that somewhere between the Mediterranean and the Himalayas a nuke or two will be used soon. We were pretty generous with our nuclear technology and actual weapons after the Second World War. Britain, France, Israel ( we might even have helped India years later to keep them in our camp ). And the Soviets did their part almost twenty years ago. It's very possible it was all a few renegade generals selling suitcase nukes to terrorists, but my money is on the state security apparatus being behind those deals. The point is, before a few countries had nukes and used them as defense. Now, everyone and his brother has them and they will be used sooner or later, somewhere or another.
*
As the economy implodes as energy supplies shrink, the nuclear option looks better and better. Not enough energy to fight a ten year war with conventional weapons? Just nuke 'em til they glow in the dark. Nuclear weapons have been used before, so it is foolish to think it won't happen again. The US under the Goober In Chief declared we would use them offensively. Plus, the recovery of Chernobyl more than likely took a lot of the mystery and fear out of nuclear contamination. It sure don't look good, does it?
END
Okay, before I forget again, big hugs and little kisses to www.tslrf.blogspot.com . The Monday post was on picking survival guns. I might not wholeheartedly agree with the Glock pick, but all in all the best arsenal choice I've seen in a long time. Why? Because it was from a focus on toughness. Not little darling, cute, need to coddle and caress, but guns you can beat the hell out of politicians with and then turn around without missing a beat and shoot the lawyers and bankers. Not using an anemic little poodle shooter round. Of course, by admitting that the Lee-Enfield was the rifle of choice, they forever cemented a place in my heart. What's my e-mail handle? What's the exit number of Elko? I would also like to thank Jay from MD for the snail mail donation. Very generous, indeedily.
*
Now, I know that at least once a week I give out a piercing, girlish scream of fear and point with a trembling finger to yet another looming disaster that we should all drop everything to worry about. It isn't really my intention to convey too much worry in and of itself. We all know something bad is going to happen. We just don't known when and exactly what. These attacks of anxiety are really nothing more than gaming possibilities and pointing out potential areas of concern. So that you may, if you are inclined to agree, take certain extra precautions. Since this week Uncle Obammy is trying to focus our attention on his left hand while his right hand puts a little more sand on the dildo he's about to shove up our rear orifice, it seems topical to discuss nuclear weapons being used. I don't know what all the fuss is about, frankly. Oh, I realize some is misdirection to take our attention off the economy. But I'm sure there is plenty of genuine concern out there. That North Korea will nuke South Korea. I can't remember the percentage of the population that lives in Soul but it is a significant number. One small yield nuke will wipe out the country. Why? Because with the economic meltdown, the South no longer has surplus wealth it can bribe the north with. One nuke, and suddenly there are a lot more rice fields available. It's only far fetched until the US is distracted enough the north feels it can get away with it. And don't think China is a deterrent. They would love to see thirty thousand American troops gone from the region ( I'm discounting Japan of course, but once our treasury is empty after Zimbabwe inflation so will our military bases in both countries- so you can add to that figure of thirty grand ).
*
Aren't we getting ready to help Israel with an attack on Iran? I might be a bit fuzzy on those details. Perhaps Israel can't get our help so they will do it on their own. No matter, the odds are good that somewhere between the Mediterranean and the Himalayas a nuke or two will be used soon. We were pretty generous with our nuclear technology and actual weapons after the Second World War. Britain, France, Israel ( we might even have helped India years later to keep them in our camp ). And the Soviets did their part almost twenty years ago. It's very possible it was all a few renegade generals selling suitcase nukes to terrorists, but my money is on the state security apparatus being behind those deals. The point is, before a few countries had nukes and used them as defense. Now, everyone and his brother has them and they will be used sooner or later, somewhere or another.
*
As the economy implodes as energy supplies shrink, the nuclear option looks better and better. Not enough energy to fight a ten year war with conventional weapons? Just nuke 'em til they glow in the dark. Nuclear weapons have been used before, so it is foolish to think it won't happen again. The US under the Goober In Chief declared we would use them offensively. Plus, the recovery of Chernobyl more than likely took a lot of the mystery and fear out of nuclear contamination. It sure don't look good, does it?
END
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
american stasi
AMERICAN STASI
The East German state security organization under communist rule was known as the Stasi. They were infamous for the number of informants on their payroll. A half a million by some estimates, several percent of the population. Now, as we all know, America would never do bad things like other nations. We would never invade other countries because they have oil, like those evil Nazi guys did. We would never use torture, like the KGB did. We would never put native born citizens in concentration camps like Britain did in South Africa. We would never practice genocide against natives like Spain or Australia did. No, we are mostest special. Pure of heart. So, we would never have an apparatus like the Stasi. All that electronic surveillance is never directed against anyone except evil towel heads or mafia guys or genuine enemies of the state that live out of the city and stockpile ammunition and food. Can't trust those slippery bastards. Why, before you know it they'll be agitating for Constitutional Rights, a clear threat to the Federal Reserve Bank, the large corporations and big government. Americans are as free as we tell them they can be, we'll decide how much freedom they can have.
*
Now, I'm not one to call the kettle black, as I agitate my loyal minions to panic at the drop of a hat, but I felt that the fuss about coming Internet censorship, taxation and regulation was so much hot air. I couldn't believe it would be in anyone's interest to do so. Taxation I can see, although by this point it doesn't matter one bit. We could confiscate 99% of everyones income and it still wouldn't be enough to pay the bank bailout bills. Or the states bailout bills. Or the insurance companies bailout bills. Or the retirement...blah, blah. But then, I actually turned on my thinking cap to Red Zone levels. The ozone smell was enough to make you dizzy. As my eyes rolled back into my head and I began to drool uncontrollably I actually got several cells to activate. And this is what I came up with. The American Stasi is the perfect make work employment program!! I tried to call up Uncle Obammy, but I got no answer. I think he was busy erasing all the tax return information from his new Supreme Court appointee so he wouldn't have another embarrassing Ruling Elite Not Required To Pay Taxes moment.
*
Normally, the basic tactic of our puppeteers is to allow so much information by the dissenters to be presented that their cries for justice are hidden in an avalanche of noise. If you let everyone to voice their displeasure, no one can hear over all the other voices. Then, you push the education system in one socialist direction and have the corporations to reward the graduates that continue the party line. It doesn't even have to be an orchestrated conspiracy. Everyone follows the money, which is distributed by a growing federal government. People simply follow the spigot from where the money pours. You go along to get along. We might now be seeing the start of actual government control. Nationalization. Direct employment rather than private companies lining up at the public trough. As the middle class disappears ( being no more than civil servants or contractors ) and unemployment soars, how to employ the growing legions of people? Building more highways, or windmill farms is too expensive. That takes actual resources we no longer have. So, what is the logical choice?
*
Work at home Internet censors! Think about it. They are already sheltered. They already have their own computers and Net access. You don't need to build offices. It will help decrease the number of commuters ( as we can afford less and less oil imports we will fall in consumption towards our own production ). We don't even have to pay much. Certainly there will be no high salaries or health benefits. That's also the beauty of nationalized health care- as everyone waits in line for free health care the Seniors and other high need patients will die off. But, don't get me side tracked. There will be no need to officially put new civil servants on the payroll. They get differential treatment on their mortgage, since most of those are now controlled by the feds through Freddie and Fannie. They can get Food Stamps. So, a spouse can stay home and work for the government while the other adult goes to work elsewhere. They were going to get food and home help anyway, so it's almost a two-fer. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't already happening ( I'm sure some of my loyal minions are loyal-just not to me ).
*
People get to keep their homes, get fed, and can keep watching ten hours of TV a day since the cable brings both Internet and television in. In return, all they have to do is report suspicious, unAmerican activities to the authorities. No one will abuse the system, they are patriotic and only care about The American Way Of Life. They would never report your surfing habits just because their dog crapped on your lawn and you yelled at them. They would never fabricate evidence just because they had quotas and didn't want to go to homeless internment camps. No, people are too swell.
END
The East German state security organization under communist rule was known as the Stasi. They were infamous for the number of informants on their payroll. A half a million by some estimates, several percent of the population. Now, as we all know, America would never do bad things like other nations. We would never invade other countries because they have oil, like those evil Nazi guys did. We would never use torture, like the KGB did. We would never put native born citizens in concentration camps like Britain did in South Africa. We would never practice genocide against natives like Spain or Australia did. No, we are mostest special. Pure of heart. So, we would never have an apparatus like the Stasi. All that electronic surveillance is never directed against anyone except evil towel heads or mafia guys or genuine enemies of the state that live out of the city and stockpile ammunition and food. Can't trust those slippery bastards. Why, before you know it they'll be agitating for Constitutional Rights, a clear threat to the Federal Reserve Bank, the large corporations and big government. Americans are as free as we tell them they can be, we'll decide how much freedom they can have.
*
Now, I'm not one to call the kettle black, as I agitate my loyal minions to panic at the drop of a hat, but I felt that the fuss about coming Internet censorship, taxation and regulation was so much hot air. I couldn't believe it would be in anyone's interest to do so. Taxation I can see, although by this point it doesn't matter one bit. We could confiscate 99% of everyones income and it still wouldn't be enough to pay the bank bailout bills. Or the states bailout bills. Or the insurance companies bailout bills. Or the retirement...blah, blah. But then, I actually turned on my thinking cap to Red Zone levels. The ozone smell was enough to make you dizzy. As my eyes rolled back into my head and I began to drool uncontrollably I actually got several cells to activate. And this is what I came up with. The American Stasi is the perfect make work employment program!! I tried to call up Uncle Obammy, but I got no answer. I think he was busy erasing all the tax return information from his new Supreme Court appointee so he wouldn't have another embarrassing Ruling Elite Not Required To Pay Taxes moment.
*
Normally, the basic tactic of our puppeteers is to allow so much information by the dissenters to be presented that their cries for justice are hidden in an avalanche of noise. If you let everyone to voice their displeasure, no one can hear over all the other voices. Then, you push the education system in one socialist direction and have the corporations to reward the graduates that continue the party line. It doesn't even have to be an orchestrated conspiracy. Everyone follows the money, which is distributed by a growing federal government. People simply follow the spigot from where the money pours. You go along to get along. We might now be seeing the start of actual government control. Nationalization. Direct employment rather than private companies lining up at the public trough. As the middle class disappears ( being no more than civil servants or contractors ) and unemployment soars, how to employ the growing legions of people? Building more highways, or windmill farms is too expensive. That takes actual resources we no longer have. So, what is the logical choice?
*
Work at home Internet censors! Think about it. They are already sheltered. They already have their own computers and Net access. You don't need to build offices. It will help decrease the number of commuters ( as we can afford less and less oil imports we will fall in consumption towards our own production ). We don't even have to pay much. Certainly there will be no high salaries or health benefits. That's also the beauty of nationalized health care- as everyone waits in line for free health care the Seniors and other high need patients will die off. But, don't get me side tracked. There will be no need to officially put new civil servants on the payroll. They get differential treatment on their mortgage, since most of those are now controlled by the feds through Freddie and Fannie. They can get Food Stamps. So, a spouse can stay home and work for the government while the other adult goes to work elsewhere. They were going to get food and home help anyway, so it's almost a two-fer. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't already happening ( I'm sure some of my loyal minions are loyal-just not to me ).
*
People get to keep their homes, get fed, and can keep watching ten hours of TV a day since the cable brings both Internet and television in. In return, all they have to do is report suspicious, unAmerican activities to the authorities. No one will abuse the system, they are patriotic and only care about The American Way Of Life. They would never report your surfing habits just because their dog crapped on your lawn and you yelled at them. They would never fabricate evidence just because they had quotas and didn't want to go to homeless internment camps. No, people are too swell.
END
Monday, May 25, 2009
book/movie review
BOOK AND MOVIE REVIEW
Usually on holidays when I don’t work I don’t post any articles. However, I know that without my guidance you are cast out upon a dark and stormy sea and I wouldn’t want to subject you to that. Plus, I had to come in for a few hours for food pick ups anyway. So I threw this together on Sunday and will pre-post it for publication at the usual time. I know, please don’t thank me all at once. I cast my pearls before you with only the noblest motivations.
*
As I threatened, I went to see the new Terminator movie on Saturday. I normally roll into town about seven and go grocery shopping and do my laundry. Go to the library, do whatever other errands I need to complete. Even taking my time it takes me at most four hours. I can do it in even less time, putting my laundry in and going out to do an errand or two before the load gets done. Not wasting time in Wal-Mart by going into every department even when I won’t buy something there. But I’m never in a hurry. I don’t want to waste the day, but even taking my time for those four hours I’m still home by eleven o’clock. Generally, I hurry more in the winter because I have a lot less daylight hours to enjoy once I get home. Anyway, I had a heck of a lot of time to kill because the matinee didn’t start until one. I went out to eat for the first time in three or four months. Let me tell you, the casino restaurant has really started to suck. It used to be a treat to go and get the $7.77 steak dinner. Salad, roll, potato and dead cow. Well, they changed to a ribeye ( I guess to save money ) and it was less than ideal. And the fries soaked up the condensation. And I couldn’t get seasoned fries anymore. Come on, you tight bastards! Well, there is a little hole in the wall with chipped linoleum and garage sale tables and chairs that everyone raves about where you get a humongous burrito for under five bucks. I’ll have to see about making that my new restaurant. I’m sure you are really waiting for that report.
*
Okay, the movie was pretty kick butt. Non stop action. But that is all it was, a summer popcorn mega-hit movie. All flash with no substance. I felt it was the weakest story of all four films in the franchise. Oh, I enjoyed myself. I didn’t feel like I wasted money ( unlike at the casino ). It was $5.50 to get in and $9.00 for a large combo of popcorn, drink and candy. Although it was only “large” since I’d already eaten most of the day’s calories two hours previously. I had a fun time, treated myself to two luxuries in one day. But if this is what they are going to churn out now, best to say goodbye to the series. This could have been any action/sci-fi flick. And let me tell you, this certainly was no post-apocalypse film. Yeh, right, like after a nuclear war there are going to be enough fuel, spare parts and ammunition to keep a fleet of helicopters and jets flying for the resistance to use. Please. I can see the use of a nuclear sub for the resistance leaders to use as their HQ, it has a nuke reactor that can run for years. But where does the unlimited supplies of everything come from? Including food. In the first Terminator they are seen eating out of old cans and catching rats for meat. That was a bit more realistic than the current well fed bodies ( with perfect dental work ) flying jets around. Firing thousands of rounds of ammo each fire fight. Reese, over in LA, is living off coyote meat. Yet once he joins the resistance there seems to be unlimited food no one has to work at getting. And plenty of gas to go around. Still fresh after almost two decades. Well, they had all that. But the one thing that seemed to be lacking were razors. No one shaved. You can keep that M-16 firing forever but no one has any safety razors left. It was there not because the writers thought about those things but because it looked cool to have a three day beard. Not a beard, mind you. Then they wouldn’t look all cool hosing down evil machines with Santa Claus guns ( the magical guns that never run out of ammunition because we get to wish it to be true ).
*
On Friday I got another batch of books in. One was “Summer Of The Apocalypse” by James Van Pelt. Now, before I bitch a little bit about this, let me make one thing clear. This was a damn fine book. It was very well written. More importantly, it was so good I read it non-stop for five hours. Well, obviously, I had to get up to go to the little boys room and heat up a can of slop for dinner. But I read that book from the time I got home to an hour after my regular bed time. Very few books are that interesting. Now, having said that, there are a few problems. One, the damn thing was $17. Out-friggin-ragous. That is why it took me a year before I finally decided to get it. $17 for a 250 page book. I know what you are saying, Dakin’s book was $12 and it was under seventy pages. Okay, first of all, I don’t know if I care for your attitude. Secondly, mine is instructional and will save you far more than the cost. Third, you can buy the e-book for only three bucks. Forth, my pages were shrunk in font size so it wouldn’t cost you even more. Fifth, just buy my book, would you? www.bisonpress.com
*
$17 is a lot to pay for a fiction book. I spent almost that much on “One Second After”, but at least that was hard back and another hundred pages. And it was useful for beginner preppers. “Summer” is pretty worthless for anything other than pure entertainment ( although, as I said, it does that damn well ). It is full of clichés from all the other end of the world fiction books that I can’t imagine it would help anyone prepare for or envision life after the collapse. Basically, plague wipes out everyone and one of the survivors takes a road trip sixty years later. The chapters rotate between now and back then during the die off. Just off the top of my head there are elements of “Postman”, “The Stand”, “The Scarlet Plague” and the movie “Panic In The Year Zero”. As a fiction book, outstanding. As a post-apocalypse book, mediocre.
END
Usually on holidays when I don’t work I don’t post any articles. However, I know that without my guidance you are cast out upon a dark and stormy sea and I wouldn’t want to subject you to that. Plus, I had to come in for a few hours for food pick ups anyway. So I threw this together on Sunday and will pre-post it for publication at the usual time. I know, please don’t thank me all at once. I cast my pearls before you with only the noblest motivations.
*
As I threatened, I went to see the new Terminator movie on Saturday. I normally roll into town about seven and go grocery shopping and do my laundry. Go to the library, do whatever other errands I need to complete. Even taking my time it takes me at most four hours. I can do it in even less time, putting my laundry in and going out to do an errand or two before the load gets done. Not wasting time in Wal-Mart by going into every department even when I won’t buy something there. But I’m never in a hurry. I don’t want to waste the day, but even taking my time for those four hours I’m still home by eleven o’clock. Generally, I hurry more in the winter because I have a lot less daylight hours to enjoy once I get home. Anyway, I had a heck of a lot of time to kill because the matinee didn’t start until one. I went out to eat for the first time in three or four months. Let me tell you, the casino restaurant has really started to suck. It used to be a treat to go and get the $7.77 steak dinner. Salad, roll, potato and dead cow. Well, they changed to a ribeye ( I guess to save money ) and it was less than ideal. And the fries soaked up the condensation. And I couldn’t get seasoned fries anymore. Come on, you tight bastards! Well, there is a little hole in the wall with chipped linoleum and garage sale tables and chairs that everyone raves about where you get a humongous burrito for under five bucks. I’ll have to see about making that my new restaurant. I’m sure you are really waiting for that report.
*
Okay, the movie was pretty kick butt. Non stop action. But that is all it was, a summer popcorn mega-hit movie. All flash with no substance. I felt it was the weakest story of all four films in the franchise. Oh, I enjoyed myself. I didn’t feel like I wasted money ( unlike at the casino ). It was $5.50 to get in and $9.00 for a large combo of popcorn, drink and candy. Although it was only “large” since I’d already eaten most of the day’s calories two hours previously. I had a fun time, treated myself to two luxuries in one day. But if this is what they are going to churn out now, best to say goodbye to the series. This could have been any action/sci-fi flick. And let me tell you, this certainly was no post-apocalypse film. Yeh, right, like after a nuclear war there are going to be enough fuel, spare parts and ammunition to keep a fleet of helicopters and jets flying for the resistance to use. Please. I can see the use of a nuclear sub for the resistance leaders to use as their HQ, it has a nuke reactor that can run for years. But where does the unlimited supplies of everything come from? Including food. In the first Terminator they are seen eating out of old cans and catching rats for meat. That was a bit more realistic than the current well fed bodies ( with perfect dental work ) flying jets around. Firing thousands of rounds of ammo each fire fight. Reese, over in LA, is living off coyote meat. Yet once he joins the resistance there seems to be unlimited food no one has to work at getting. And plenty of gas to go around. Still fresh after almost two decades. Well, they had all that. But the one thing that seemed to be lacking were razors. No one shaved. You can keep that M-16 firing forever but no one has any safety razors left. It was there not because the writers thought about those things but because it looked cool to have a three day beard. Not a beard, mind you. Then they wouldn’t look all cool hosing down evil machines with Santa Claus guns ( the magical guns that never run out of ammunition because we get to wish it to be true ).
*
On Friday I got another batch of books in. One was “Summer Of The Apocalypse” by James Van Pelt. Now, before I bitch a little bit about this, let me make one thing clear. This was a damn fine book. It was very well written. More importantly, it was so good I read it non-stop for five hours. Well, obviously, I had to get up to go to the little boys room and heat up a can of slop for dinner. But I read that book from the time I got home to an hour after my regular bed time. Very few books are that interesting. Now, having said that, there are a few problems. One, the damn thing was $17. Out-friggin-ragous. That is why it took me a year before I finally decided to get it. $17 for a 250 page book. I know what you are saying, Dakin’s book was $12 and it was under seventy pages. Okay, first of all, I don’t know if I care for your attitude. Secondly, mine is instructional and will save you far more than the cost. Third, you can buy the e-book for only three bucks. Forth, my pages were shrunk in font size so it wouldn’t cost you even more. Fifth, just buy my book, would you? www.bisonpress.com
*
$17 is a lot to pay for a fiction book. I spent almost that much on “One Second After”, but at least that was hard back and another hundred pages. And it was useful for beginner preppers. “Summer” is pretty worthless for anything other than pure entertainment ( although, as I said, it does that damn well ). It is full of clichés from all the other end of the world fiction books that I can’t imagine it would help anyone prepare for or envision life after the collapse. Basically, plague wipes out everyone and one of the survivors takes a road trip sixty years later. The chapters rotate between now and back then during the die off. Just off the top of my head there are elements of “Postman”, “The Stand”, “The Scarlet Plague” and the movie “Panic In The Year Zero”. As a fiction book, outstanding. As a post-apocalypse book, mediocre.
END
Friday, May 22, 2009
bike update
BIKE UPDATE
I know what you are all thinking. You think you'll be still be driving your jacked up chrome wheeled roll bar real window gun racked Detroit truck in a year or two. Ah, that's sweet. The dream dies hard. I can guarantee you that soon you will be walking or riding a bike. The best you can hope for is a brief interlude while you can still drive once a week to go get supplies. Then the rationing system will break down and no gas will be available. I can't know when, but it will happen. So right now would be a great time to sell your car. No one can afford a new car ( or can't get the credit ) so right now used cars are going for ridiculous prices. Sell at the top of the bubble, not after it's popped. If you are making payments, jingle mail that bitch. You can stockpile a comfortable amount on those car payments. I know it ain't as simple as that. One of you in the family might still have a job for a little while longer. But don't wait for the car culture to die before you put your fat ass on a bike seat. By then there won't be any health care available when you have a heart attack.
*
Okay, one size doesn't fit all. As long as you know you will eventually need a bicycle. So, to that end I'll share my further adventures of biking to and fro the Bison Compound. A few weeks back I was able to put a little cash in the savings account. I hate to leave it there for bankruptcy bait, but I need a slush fund for emergencies. I swear my bicycle smelled my new found wealth ( shades of Christine! ) because only a few days later I'm coming into work and suddenly it feels like I'm riding on square tires. My front tire had split down the middle in one spot, the victim of shoddy Chinese material rotting apart. Here I was all focused on weak metal parts and all the time my tires were conspiring against me. I just know that the tire manufacture set me up for failure so he could have extra chop suey and an extra ten minutes on his cell phone talking to the factory manager on how to defeat the running capitalist dogs. Thanks a lot, Hungg Lo!
*
It used to be that I could care less about the quality of Chinese goods. They were cheap enough to replace, in our long ago fabled Toffleresque future of a throw away society. Now that energy costs have doubled, as well as inflation, this is no longer the case. Now it is a real pain in the ass. You have to replace shoddy parts with better ones ( most likely still made in China, but with better ingredients ) instead of replacing the whole item ( five years ago it cost sixty dollars to replace the bike, or $50 to replace the back wheel ). Well, that plus the fact that soon no more imports will replace the Chinese crap. So it is time to construct a quality bike. A Wal-Mart beach cruiser with aluminum frame is $100. It will start to fall apart on you about three hundred miles. Here is my failure schedule. First the chain started breaking links. Then you could hear metal grinding in the back wheel about a hundred miles after that. Don't expect the rear wheel to last past 500 miles. The tire split after about 2000 miles. While the bike was in the shop he looked at the bearings in the pedal assembly and had to replace that ( totally shot ). He showed them to me ( I trust the guy, but he must have a lot of customers thinking he is like an auto mechanic ) and whatever they were, it wasn't a bearing any longer.
*
The only thing left on the bike needing to be replaced is the front wheel. I am told it won't last another two thousand miles. It would be a little cheaper put in new bearings rather than replace the wheel, but I figure that way there won't be any Chinese crap parts left besides the frame and the handle bars ( and the pedals, but I'll replace that so I don't have to worry about it ). So, here's the total cost break down. The bike is $100. New, thick, green gooped inner tubes are $25 a set. Chain, $15. A new back wheel is $65. New front wheel is $40. New pedals, $15. Two new tires, $40. I could even get a new seat, mine is wobbly. $30. Repack pedal bearings, $50. So the total cost to turn a crap bike into a much longer lasting bike is $380. Check to see if your bike shop has them cheaper than that, but I doubt it. You could shave a bit off that by doing some of the work yourself, but the labor is pretty reasonable. I'm not paying the guys rent by buying a bike, so I won't begrudge him some labor I could have done myself. I don't want the towns only shop to go out of business.
*
That's cheaper than a years car insurance. You turn from a pear to a stud. If nothing else, you keep your car and put the wife on a bike. Let's face it, the average American female doesn't stand a chance with a library full of diet books. Her doughy ass needs exercise. I'm not saying the guys look much better, but females get along on their looks whereas we get along on our wallets ( yes, I know that's why I'm single, thank you very much for reminding me ). Don't hate me FemiNazi's! I'm only the messenger. So, mainly this whole long winded message was that every part of your China bike will fail, including the tires.
END
I know what you are all thinking. You think you'll be still be driving your jacked up chrome wheeled roll bar real window gun racked Detroit truck in a year or two. Ah, that's sweet. The dream dies hard. I can guarantee you that soon you will be walking or riding a bike. The best you can hope for is a brief interlude while you can still drive once a week to go get supplies. Then the rationing system will break down and no gas will be available. I can't know when, but it will happen. So right now would be a great time to sell your car. No one can afford a new car ( or can't get the credit ) so right now used cars are going for ridiculous prices. Sell at the top of the bubble, not after it's popped. If you are making payments, jingle mail that bitch. You can stockpile a comfortable amount on those car payments. I know it ain't as simple as that. One of you in the family might still have a job for a little while longer. But don't wait for the car culture to die before you put your fat ass on a bike seat. By then there won't be any health care available when you have a heart attack.
*
Okay, one size doesn't fit all. As long as you know you will eventually need a bicycle. So, to that end I'll share my further adventures of biking to and fro the Bison Compound. A few weeks back I was able to put a little cash in the savings account. I hate to leave it there for bankruptcy bait, but I need a slush fund for emergencies. I swear my bicycle smelled my new found wealth ( shades of Christine! ) because only a few days later I'm coming into work and suddenly it feels like I'm riding on square tires. My front tire had split down the middle in one spot, the victim of shoddy Chinese material rotting apart. Here I was all focused on weak metal parts and all the time my tires were conspiring against me. I just know that the tire manufacture set me up for failure so he could have extra chop suey and an extra ten minutes on his cell phone talking to the factory manager on how to defeat the running capitalist dogs. Thanks a lot, Hungg Lo!
*
It used to be that I could care less about the quality of Chinese goods. They were cheap enough to replace, in our long ago fabled Toffleresque future of a throw away society. Now that energy costs have doubled, as well as inflation, this is no longer the case. Now it is a real pain in the ass. You have to replace shoddy parts with better ones ( most likely still made in China, but with better ingredients ) instead of replacing the whole item ( five years ago it cost sixty dollars to replace the bike, or $50 to replace the back wheel ). Well, that plus the fact that soon no more imports will replace the Chinese crap. So it is time to construct a quality bike. A Wal-Mart beach cruiser with aluminum frame is $100. It will start to fall apart on you about three hundred miles. Here is my failure schedule. First the chain started breaking links. Then you could hear metal grinding in the back wheel about a hundred miles after that. Don't expect the rear wheel to last past 500 miles. The tire split after about 2000 miles. While the bike was in the shop he looked at the bearings in the pedal assembly and had to replace that ( totally shot ). He showed them to me ( I trust the guy, but he must have a lot of customers thinking he is like an auto mechanic ) and whatever they were, it wasn't a bearing any longer.
*
The only thing left on the bike needing to be replaced is the front wheel. I am told it won't last another two thousand miles. It would be a little cheaper put in new bearings rather than replace the wheel, but I figure that way there won't be any Chinese crap parts left besides the frame and the handle bars ( and the pedals, but I'll replace that so I don't have to worry about it ). So, here's the total cost break down. The bike is $100. New, thick, green gooped inner tubes are $25 a set. Chain, $15. A new back wheel is $65. New front wheel is $40. New pedals, $15. Two new tires, $40. I could even get a new seat, mine is wobbly. $30. Repack pedal bearings, $50. So the total cost to turn a crap bike into a much longer lasting bike is $380. Check to see if your bike shop has them cheaper than that, but I doubt it. You could shave a bit off that by doing some of the work yourself, but the labor is pretty reasonable. I'm not paying the guys rent by buying a bike, so I won't begrudge him some labor I could have done myself. I don't want the towns only shop to go out of business.
*
That's cheaper than a years car insurance. You turn from a pear to a stud. If nothing else, you keep your car and put the wife on a bike. Let's face it, the average American female doesn't stand a chance with a library full of diet books. Her doughy ass needs exercise. I'm not saying the guys look much better, but females get along on their looks whereas we get along on our wallets ( yes, I know that's why I'm single, thank you very much for reminding me ). Don't hate me FemiNazi's! I'm only the messenger. So, mainly this whole long winded message was that every part of your China bike will fail, including the tires.
END
Thursday, May 21, 2009
12v for morons
12V FOR MORONS
Before we start today, remember that Terminator is in the theatres. I've read one good and one bad review, so I don't know what to think. Usually I go against the critics and am generally vindicated. They only like Euro homo, publicly funded movies that speak to the ages and are not entertaining at all. Oh, Geeves, let us butt hump each other and then discus literature. Christ, if you can't enjoy a movie because it is full of explosions, automatic weapons fire and gratuitous female nudity, don't stay a movie critic. Go work at the University with the other Comrades. Anyway, it's been a year since I went to the theatre since I don't like being ripped off on general principles but you have to make exceptions for post-apocalypse movies. Even if they might be more Batman/Transformers than the first Terminator. The original might not be the sweetest eye candy but it was truest to the genre. We'll see.
*
I was off and off, hot and cold about doing this article. I'm not going to cover what you might expect such as vehicle installation of extra batteries or wiring a dwelling into 12v. I'm just going to cover the most basic, cheapest system. I hope you like it, honest. But if not, feel free to demand 200% of your money back. If you are really poor, just get yourself the book size solar charger for $30 and some AA, AAA and D rechargeables. And a few LED lanterns and flashlights. Living through a winter month with those, I can tell you it really sucks. There isn't enough light to be comfortable. Enough to let you see, but not enough to shake off the gloom. It is certainly better than candles. And it beats propane or kerosene. Not in performance but in longevity. However, if you can afford it I would certainly recommend 12v lighting instead. With that, you won't feel like you are sacrificing to live off grid, at least as illumination goes, and as a bonus you can use other electronics. Such as computers and TV.
*
You can buy a 15w panel through the mail for $80. The auto parts store usually sells them for $99. However, lately the stores have been including the controller for the same amount of money. So, at least for the first one, check out the store first. Yes, I'm aware you can usually buy your system cheaper by getting a panel with higher wattage. Per watt it is less expensive. However, paying a little extra per panel will give you redundancy and back up. And allow you to buy one piece at a time. $80 for the panel, $25 for the controller. The panels are supposed to have a solenoid that keeps the battery from draining back at night, but don't trust that alone. I had one panel fail me after six months. Made in China. If I hadn't had the controller it would have drained both my batteries. I think. But I'm glad I don't have to worry about it. Besides, when the battery is charged up the indicator light goes from yellow to green, which is handy to have.
*
You can hook up more than one panel to a controller. Just twist the wires together from the panels as they go into the controller. Positive with positive, negative with negative. Red is positive, black is negative. That right there is how simple 12v is. That is really all really need to know. Even a moron like myself can figure it out straight out of the box. Twist your wires together, cover with one of those wire caps or some electrical tape. I have two 12v systems. One is a 40 watt panel and a 15 watt panel. They go through a controller. The controller has O rings at the end of each wire. Those hook up to a marine battery. The marine batteries have the conventional style posts like a car battery, plus two other smaller ones ( the size of an eraser rather than dime size like the regular battery posts ). When you buy a panel, they already come with those small rings on wires. The wires out of the panel are bare. The separate controller has bare wires for the intake. These are what you hook up. The outgoing wires end in a female plug. One of the included plugs with the panel is a male plug with the small rings at the end. They go to your marine battery. Use a marine battery. They cost 20% more but are worth it, as you can discharge them below half and it won't damage the battery ( like it will on a car battery ). Try not to discharge it more than half if you can help it. But you need that protection.
*
I already have 12v wiring in my trailer, to several cigarette lighter plugs and all my lights. I'm clueless about wiring a dwelling, with a fuse panel and multiple outlets. So, this is where my second system comes in handy if this is all new to you. I have a separate 15 watt panel that I screwed on to a pallet ( for those looking at the Bison Compound pictures at www.bisonpress.com , the picture of my trailer panels is old. I upgraded it to rest on a pallet, everything else is the same ) and propped up against my van bumper. I tied the pallet down well, because of our high winds. The wire runs in through the side door gasket to a controller, then a battery. When the battery is charged I disconnect it and carry it inside my trailer. You could do with just one battery, but I have two. I swap them out so I always have one in use ( I remember too many weeks during the winter with no sun ). I take my $30, 200 watt inverter and hook that up to the battery by clamps. I can run any AC appliance that uses less than 200 watts. Just remember the inverter "costs" ten percent ( ie, a thirty watt item uses 33 going through the inverter ). At the same time I can run a DC item through the cigarette lighter plug that is one the inverter next to the AC plug. So, my 13 watt TV is plugged into the DC socket and the DVD player is in the AC plug at the same time. You can run DC items off the inverter without turning the inverter on, also.
*
You can use a lot more juice in the summer. But in the winter months I found a good rule of thumb is not to use more power in a day than your system can charge in an hour ( subtract 20% from the claimed power to get the actual output, so a 15w panel puts out 12w in bright light ). So, if six days are cloudy you can still survive on that one day's charge. Also, you need to spend the extra money to buy only low watt devices. Spend the $30 on the bright white LED auto bulb. It uses 5 watts. A regular auto bulb uses 18. Trust me, you will have to do that to keep the lights on every night. Unless you have a heck of a lot of panels and batteries. Cheaper to buy the bulb. Buy a netbook computer. They use 30 watts instead of a normal notebook which uses 60. They are going for $299 right now at Wal-Mart.
*
All this costs a lot of money. But since I already had the basic AA/AAA/D system with plenty of LED flashlights and lanterns, I was buying for comfort and sanity rather than survival preps. This is more for off grid living than it is post collapse living. Keep the distinction in mind. This is a want, not a need.
END
Before we start today, remember that Terminator is in the theatres. I've read one good and one bad review, so I don't know what to think. Usually I go against the critics and am generally vindicated. They only like Euro homo, publicly funded movies that speak to the ages and are not entertaining at all. Oh, Geeves, let us butt hump each other and then discus literature. Christ, if you can't enjoy a movie because it is full of explosions, automatic weapons fire and gratuitous female nudity, don't stay a movie critic. Go work at the University with the other Comrades. Anyway, it's been a year since I went to the theatre since I don't like being ripped off on general principles but you have to make exceptions for post-apocalypse movies. Even if they might be more Batman/Transformers than the first Terminator. The original might not be the sweetest eye candy but it was truest to the genre. We'll see.
*
I was off and off, hot and cold about doing this article. I'm not going to cover what you might expect such as vehicle installation of extra batteries or wiring a dwelling into 12v. I'm just going to cover the most basic, cheapest system. I hope you like it, honest. But if not, feel free to demand 200% of your money back. If you are really poor, just get yourself the book size solar charger for $30 and some AA, AAA and D rechargeables. And a few LED lanterns and flashlights. Living through a winter month with those, I can tell you it really sucks. There isn't enough light to be comfortable. Enough to let you see, but not enough to shake off the gloom. It is certainly better than candles. And it beats propane or kerosene. Not in performance but in longevity. However, if you can afford it I would certainly recommend 12v lighting instead. With that, you won't feel like you are sacrificing to live off grid, at least as illumination goes, and as a bonus you can use other electronics. Such as computers and TV.
*
You can buy a 15w panel through the mail for $80. The auto parts store usually sells them for $99. However, lately the stores have been including the controller for the same amount of money. So, at least for the first one, check out the store first. Yes, I'm aware you can usually buy your system cheaper by getting a panel with higher wattage. Per watt it is less expensive. However, paying a little extra per panel will give you redundancy and back up. And allow you to buy one piece at a time. $80 for the panel, $25 for the controller. The panels are supposed to have a solenoid that keeps the battery from draining back at night, but don't trust that alone. I had one panel fail me after six months. Made in China. If I hadn't had the controller it would have drained both my batteries. I think. But I'm glad I don't have to worry about it. Besides, when the battery is charged up the indicator light goes from yellow to green, which is handy to have.
*
You can hook up more than one panel to a controller. Just twist the wires together from the panels as they go into the controller. Positive with positive, negative with negative. Red is positive, black is negative. That right there is how simple 12v is. That is really all really need to know. Even a moron like myself can figure it out straight out of the box. Twist your wires together, cover with one of those wire caps or some electrical tape. I have two 12v systems. One is a 40 watt panel and a 15 watt panel. They go through a controller. The controller has O rings at the end of each wire. Those hook up to a marine battery. The marine batteries have the conventional style posts like a car battery, plus two other smaller ones ( the size of an eraser rather than dime size like the regular battery posts ). When you buy a panel, they already come with those small rings on wires. The wires out of the panel are bare. The separate controller has bare wires for the intake. These are what you hook up. The outgoing wires end in a female plug. One of the included plugs with the panel is a male plug with the small rings at the end. They go to your marine battery. Use a marine battery. They cost 20% more but are worth it, as you can discharge them below half and it won't damage the battery ( like it will on a car battery ). Try not to discharge it more than half if you can help it. But you need that protection.
*
I already have 12v wiring in my trailer, to several cigarette lighter plugs and all my lights. I'm clueless about wiring a dwelling, with a fuse panel and multiple outlets. So, this is where my second system comes in handy if this is all new to you. I have a separate 15 watt panel that I screwed on to a pallet ( for those looking at the Bison Compound pictures at www.bisonpress.com , the picture of my trailer panels is old. I upgraded it to rest on a pallet, everything else is the same ) and propped up against my van bumper. I tied the pallet down well, because of our high winds. The wire runs in through the side door gasket to a controller, then a battery. When the battery is charged I disconnect it and carry it inside my trailer. You could do with just one battery, but I have two. I swap them out so I always have one in use ( I remember too many weeks during the winter with no sun ). I take my $30, 200 watt inverter and hook that up to the battery by clamps. I can run any AC appliance that uses less than 200 watts. Just remember the inverter "costs" ten percent ( ie, a thirty watt item uses 33 going through the inverter ). At the same time I can run a DC item through the cigarette lighter plug that is one the inverter next to the AC plug. So, my 13 watt TV is plugged into the DC socket and the DVD player is in the AC plug at the same time. You can run DC items off the inverter without turning the inverter on, also.
*
You can use a lot more juice in the summer. But in the winter months I found a good rule of thumb is not to use more power in a day than your system can charge in an hour ( subtract 20% from the claimed power to get the actual output, so a 15w panel puts out 12w in bright light ). So, if six days are cloudy you can still survive on that one day's charge. Also, you need to spend the extra money to buy only low watt devices. Spend the $30 on the bright white LED auto bulb. It uses 5 watts. A regular auto bulb uses 18. Trust me, you will have to do that to keep the lights on every night. Unless you have a heck of a lot of panels and batteries. Cheaper to buy the bulb. Buy a netbook computer. They use 30 watts instead of a normal notebook which uses 60. They are going for $299 right now at Wal-Mart.
*
All this costs a lot of money. But since I already had the basic AA/AAA/D system with plenty of LED flashlights and lanterns, I was buying for comfort and sanity rather than survival preps. This is more for off grid living than it is post collapse living. Keep the distinction in mind. This is a want, not a need.
END
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
incurable optimist
INCURABLE OPTIMIST
As long suffering Loyal Minions are aware, Rawles and I have polar opposite views on survivalism. At times I can be rather rude and annoying about our differences ( he acts like a gentleman and generally ignores me ). However, I still wish him the best of luck becoming the Ruff of the Double Aughts. He seems to be well on the way. Having wished him fame and fortune, I can't believe what an incurable optimist he is. Read his article for today. A slow steady decline with a steadily worsening recession eventually turning into a depression. This generally fits in with his readers approach of working for the big bucks in the city and waiting for the balloon to go up so they can pile into their pretty SUV's with twenty cans of gas strapped on the roof and head to their concrete bunkers in Idaho. That's also the way to sell books, because no one is going to shell out $7.99 or more just to hear they are going to die. They are buying hope.
*
Me, I like to sell nothing but gloom. Rawles is the Macy's of survivalism. You can buy a Chinese made shirt for $60. I'm the street vendor down an offal strewn alley, selling illegal knock offs for three for ten bucks. There is no way I'm going to be the next poster child of preparedness. Is it because I'm just a miserable old bastard? Not breast fed as a child? Let's not analyze, neither one of us is going to like the answer. Look, as far as I'm concerned, 99% of all economic forecasting out there is modeled wrong. Everyone is looking at our economy and our empire through the last five hundred years of history. Before the carbon fuel economy, there was the colonial economy. Both are based on mining wealth. There was nothing but growth. Even if one nation lost the empire game to the other, resources were still being mined. Just by another group. Throughout the whole period, energy extraction continued to grow.
*
We are at the end of carbon fuel growth. The globe has already seen oil production peak. Oil exploration has peaked. Per capita oil consumption has not just peaked but fallen. There is no need to plow through thousands of pages of information ( although it was fun in a slow motion train wreck sort of way ), just Wiki peak oil and follow the links from there. The Hubbert theory has never been disproven, the deniers intent on fudging the numbers to push back the dates. Any non renewable resource is subject to depletion, yet somehow oil should be different? But I digress again with oil. Let's just focus on energy in general. To get an idea of the direction we are headed, look to Rome. Forget about the hyperinflation and death of the Republic, the growth of a dictatorship, etc. ( although they are being mirrored by us also ). Rome ended by the end of the surplus of energy ( they ran out of slaves and fertile soil, essentially ). Just like we are.
*
Rome turned into a ghost town. Former fertile regions took centuries to support that many people again. The entire system crashed and the entire physical and cultural infrastructure crashed. Little remained. That is where we are headed. The deniers are insistent that we will also see a generations long slow descent. Yes, so far it has been slow. But we will eventually reach the tripping point ( if we haven't already, say by the credit freeze or the exponential growth of money creation ). The Perfect Storm. When suddenly the roller coaster stops chugging up the hill and screams over the other side. I won't blather on about why I think a quick collapse is inevitable. Read my book Life After The Collapse ( you can read the free part which explains the why of the collapse, follow the book link at www.bisonpress.com ).
*
You can gamble on the slow collapse, business as usual. Paying the mortgage and SUV payment. Or, for little more than one months payment for those two you can buy a piece of junk land ( www.dirtcheapdirt.blogspot.com ). One more month buys all the gun and grub a good little frugal survivalist needs. Two months for a life time of security. Look at all the old trolls. Bad mouthing those that were doing something ( congrats, Mayberry, on the RV ). It takes so little, but all they do is stay envious. If I'm wrong ( it took me twenty years to be right about owning a house ) you are out nothing. You are well prepared for any disruption. Oh, there is much more such as getting out of debt, but that covers the hardest part. We've been through all this before. Sue me, I was short on original ideas today. I just can't see why there is such resistance to simple and cheap insurance ( I can see why there is denial, but insurance is for just in case! ).
END
Thank you, the Three Amigo's over at www.tslrf.blogspot.com for the plug with the fiction page.
As long suffering Loyal Minions are aware, Rawles and I have polar opposite views on survivalism. At times I can be rather rude and annoying about our differences ( he acts like a gentleman and generally ignores me ). However, I still wish him the best of luck becoming the Ruff of the Double Aughts. He seems to be well on the way. Having wished him fame and fortune, I can't believe what an incurable optimist he is. Read his article for today. A slow steady decline with a steadily worsening recession eventually turning into a depression. This generally fits in with his readers approach of working for the big bucks in the city and waiting for the balloon to go up so they can pile into their pretty SUV's with twenty cans of gas strapped on the roof and head to their concrete bunkers in Idaho. That's also the way to sell books, because no one is going to shell out $7.99 or more just to hear they are going to die. They are buying hope.
*
Me, I like to sell nothing but gloom. Rawles is the Macy's of survivalism. You can buy a Chinese made shirt for $60. I'm the street vendor down an offal strewn alley, selling illegal knock offs for three for ten bucks. There is no way I'm going to be the next poster child of preparedness. Is it because I'm just a miserable old bastard? Not breast fed as a child? Let's not analyze, neither one of us is going to like the answer. Look, as far as I'm concerned, 99% of all economic forecasting out there is modeled wrong. Everyone is looking at our economy and our empire through the last five hundred years of history. Before the carbon fuel economy, there was the colonial economy. Both are based on mining wealth. There was nothing but growth. Even if one nation lost the empire game to the other, resources were still being mined. Just by another group. Throughout the whole period, energy extraction continued to grow.
*
We are at the end of carbon fuel growth. The globe has already seen oil production peak. Oil exploration has peaked. Per capita oil consumption has not just peaked but fallen. There is no need to plow through thousands of pages of information ( although it was fun in a slow motion train wreck sort of way ), just Wiki peak oil and follow the links from there. The Hubbert theory has never been disproven, the deniers intent on fudging the numbers to push back the dates. Any non renewable resource is subject to depletion, yet somehow oil should be different? But I digress again with oil. Let's just focus on energy in general. To get an idea of the direction we are headed, look to Rome. Forget about the hyperinflation and death of the Republic, the growth of a dictatorship, etc. ( although they are being mirrored by us also ). Rome ended by the end of the surplus of energy ( they ran out of slaves and fertile soil, essentially ). Just like we are.
*
Rome turned into a ghost town. Former fertile regions took centuries to support that many people again. The entire system crashed and the entire physical and cultural infrastructure crashed. Little remained. That is where we are headed. The deniers are insistent that we will also see a generations long slow descent. Yes, so far it has been slow. But we will eventually reach the tripping point ( if we haven't already, say by the credit freeze or the exponential growth of money creation ). The Perfect Storm. When suddenly the roller coaster stops chugging up the hill and screams over the other side. I won't blather on about why I think a quick collapse is inevitable. Read my book Life After The Collapse ( you can read the free part which explains the why of the collapse, follow the book link at www.bisonpress.com ).
*
You can gamble on the slow collapse, business as usual. Paying the mortgage and SUV payment. Or, for little more than one months payment for those two you can buy a piece of junk land ( www.dirtcheapdirt.blogspot.com ). One more month buys all the gun and grub a good little frugal survivalist needs. Two months for a life time of security. Look at all the old trolls. Bad mouthing those that were doing something ( congrats, Mayberry, on the RV ). It takes so little, but all they do is stay envious. If I'm wrong ( it took me twenty years to be right about owning a house ) you are out nothing. You are well prepared for any disruption. Oh, there is much more such as getting out of debt, but that covers the hardest part. We've been through all this before. Sue me, I was short on original ideas today. I just can't see why there is such resistance to simple and cheap insurance ( I can see why there is denial, but insurance is for just in case! ).
END
Thank you, the Three Amigo's over at www.tslrf.blogspot.com for the plug with the fiction page.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
the trillion dollar prize
THE TRILLION DOLLAR PRIZE
If you look at Uncle Sam, a trillion bucks doesn't buy diddly. It doesn't buy off the derivatives meltdown. Or a investment bank or two. It doesn't stop the real estate bubble from popping. It won't be more than a down payment on health care reform ( I don't doubt we'll spend the trillion, but it won't accomplish anything other than starting another futile financial bubble and will be money down the hole ). Pretty soon it won't even pay off one years interest on the national debt ( while your average citizen could care less about inflation as long as he can eat a bucket of KFC in front of the Super Bowl on a big screen, the central bank knows exactly what they have wrought and will push up the governments interest payments to match pace with the purchasing power lose ). The Chinese, however, know the value of a trillion bucks.
*
The Chinese are not superior. They are not any less greedy. They have their number of idiots in charge. But the difference between them and us is that we are soft and gooey and they are lean and hungry. So they won't make as many mistakes and they will be willing to sacrifice a lot more to climb to the top. America is on the top, and thinks it is divine providence. Why put much effort into it if Baby Jesus himself is on our side? Think of countries as car companies. We are GM. We borrow all the retirement funds to stay in business and make all the profits from financing and none from the cars themselves. China is Toyota. They have to do a better job. They need to put out a better product at a cheaper price and do it year after year. One day, after decades of this, GM is bankrupt and Toyota is the world's biggest car company ( forget about the current meltdown and Peak Oil which will take them all down, at least for this analogy ).
*
What did China get for her trillion? Our treasury bonds. Yes, she will be paid back in worthless dollars, but as a bonus we will have to destroy our currency to do that. I think Japan still has a little bit more than China in our debt, but as we still occupy her she will not truly go against our wishes. Nor will she go against Chinese wishes, because as soon as we pull out of Japan she is at their mercy. Japan is between a rock and a hard place. Unless we leave some nukes there, China will control or occupy there soon. China doesn't have to do much to destroy us. The fiction depicting her sending over converter oil tankers full of troops to invade us are stupid. Thinking we will fight her with conventional forces is stupid. China will let us destroy ourselves and a trillion is chump change for that.
*
China knows we are on the way out. But we have nuclear weapons. So she bides her time, appearing to leave us alone. She can leave Taiwan in peace for now. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, she hasn't been overtly militant. She won't give up gains made prior to that, but we act all concerned and leave it at that. At worst, a few flunkies have to put up with Clinton visiting and acting all bitchy. Dollars to donuts, those are the politicians being punished for something ( they have to be wondering if a firing squad would be better ). You can bet China has a pretty realistic view on the oil situation. She has secured supplies from Africa and South America. Africa has much better future prospects anyway, not having been pumped for the last forty years like Saudi Arabia. And as America slowly loses control through economic contraction, China will step into the breech. China won't be putting military bases in every country it can like we did. It can control economically.
*
I don't think China will suddenly step in and take global control as we lose it. China will suffer as her over abundance on manufacturing becomes a liability. But she can emerge from the troubles as we are overwhelmed by them. China thinks nothing of her population suffering terribly. She can pay the price, then emerge stronger. It won't be like the US taking over policing the globe from England. The interim will be full of violence and anarchy. Plus, China is probably more concerned with the threat of Russia than from us. She bought her insurance against us. If the bond threat doesn't work as planned, there is always all that hacker activity that has compromised our electric grid, waiting if needed. Actually, she could have saved her money, our bankers will kill us for her. But it never hurts to have multiple weapons. China may never rule the world, but soon she will control the oil left in a lot of places. That will be good enough as the world heads toward the new Dark Ages.
END
If you look at Uncle Sam, a trillion bucks doesn't buy diddly. It doesn't buy off the derivatives meltdown. Or a investment bank or two. It doesn't stop the real estate bubble from popping. It won't be more than a down payment on health care reform ( I don't doubt we'll spend the trillion, but it won't accomplish anything other than starting another futile financial bubble and will be money down the hole ). Pretty soon it won't even pay off one years interest on the national debt ( while your average citizen could care less about inflation as long as he can eat a bucket of KFC in front of the Super Bowl on a big screen, the central bank knows exactly what they have wrought and will push up the governments interest payments to match pace with the purchasing power lose ). The Chinese, however, know the value of a trillion bucks.
*
The Chinese are not superior. They are not any less greedy. They have their number of idiots in charge. But the difference between them and us is that we are soft and gooey and they are lean and hungry. So they won't make as many mistakes and they will be willing to sacrifice a lot more to climb to the top. America is on the top, and thinks it is divine providence. Why put much effort into it if Baby Jesus himself is on our side? Think of countries as car companies. We are GM. We borrow all the retirement funds to stay in business and make all the profits from financing and none from the cars themselves. China is Toyota. They have to do a better job. They need to put out a better product at a cheaper price and do it year after year. One day, after decades of this, GM is bankrupt and Toyota is the world's biggest car company ( forget about the current meltdown and Peak Oil which will take them all down, at least for this analogy ).
*
What did China get for her trillion? Our treasury bonds. Yes, she will be paid back in worthless dollars, but as a bonus we will have to destroy our currency to do that. I think Japan still has a little bit more than China in our debt, but as we still occupy her she will not truly go against our wishes. Nor will she go against Chinese wishes, because as soon as we pull out of Japan she is at their mercy. Japan is between a rock and a hard place. Unless we leave some nukes there, China will control or occupy there soon. China doesn't have to do much to destroy us. The fiction depicting her sending over converter oil tankers full of troops to invade us are stupid. Thinking we will fight her with conventional forces is stupid. China will let us destroy ourselves and a trillion is chump change for that.
*
China knows we are on the way out. But we have nuclear weapons. So she bides her time, appearing to leave us alone. She can leave Taiwan in peace for now. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, she hasn't been overtly militant. She won't give up gains made prior to that, but we act all concerned and leave it at that. At worst, a few flunkies have to put up with Clinton visiting and acting all bitchy. Dollars to donuts, those are the politicians being punished for something ( they have to be wondering if a firing squad would be better ). You can bet China has a pretty realistic view on the oil situation. She has secured supplies from Africa and South America. Africa has much better future prospects anyway, not having been pumped for the last forty years like Saudi Arabia. And as America slowly loses control through economic contraction, China will step into the breech. China won't be putting military bases in every country it can like we did. It can control economically.
*
I don't think China will suddenly step in and take global control as we lose it. China will suffer as her over abundance on manufacturing becomes a liability. But she can emerge from the troubles as we are overwhelmed by them. China thinks nothing of her population suffering terribly. She can pay the price, then emerge stronger. It won't be like the US taking over policing the globe from England. The interim will be full of violence and anarchy. Plus, China is probably more concerned with the threat of Russia than from us. She bought her insurance against us. If the bond threat doesn't work as planned, there is always all that hacker activity that has compromised our electric grid, waiting if needed. Actually, she could have saved her money, our bankers will kill us for her. But it never hurts to have multiple weapons. China may never rule the world, but soon she will control the oil left in a lot of places. That will be good enough as the world heads toward the new Dark Ages.
END
Monday, May 18, 2009
innocent obammy
INNOCENT OBAMMY
I know a lot of you voted for The Dark Knight. Don't lie to me! Some of you actually think voting will change something, and of those some of you thought a commissar would be better than a brown shirt. I'm not saying you are necessarily wrong, since they are two sides of the same coin. The reason I bring this up is that every time I whine about Uncle Obammy someone chastises me for not picking on Bush equally. I can see where it might seem that way, but its not really fair picking on the mentally challenged, now is it? Oh, I still did it, I just tried to refrain myself occasionally. And my original readers, if they still hung around after all those years of lowered expectations, could tell you I was distrustful and critical of Bush Senior. Read my lips, I'm a Republican, my butt.
*
What I would like to propose today is that perhaps Obammy is somewhat innocent. Not totally, he could still be in the running as the Antichrist as easily as he could be for the Titanic captain. But at least in one aspect, he could be less guilty than accused. I'm talking about the cause of increased gun sales. Now, please hear me out here. I'm not saying we have nothing to worry about. Most likely we do. Obammy is a Democrat out of real conviction. I'm sure he truly wants to turn whatever sliver of free market that is left into a five year state run plan. The only reason he can't nationalize industries quicker is because the printing presses can't run any faster. And he's having a hard time getting East German communists visas so he has reliable advisers on how to run a total police state. Deep down he would love to ban all pocket knives, BB guns and flammable aerosol cans. Having said that, I don't think the fear on the Clinton II Gun Ban is what is motivating everyone to buy guns and ammunition.
*
Again, I'm not saying it is not a danger. I'm saying that the huge numbers of buyers, many new, can't all be explained by politics. I think that a lot of people are acting out of economic motivations. They remember the 1970's and the extreme crime and they are scared. They know we are headed down the same road and they want personal protection. I can't say how much of each motivation there is. I'm sure the majority is fear of total gun control. But I also think a fair number are worried about increased crime. They don't think all the guns will be banned, they think the police will be ineffective against crime. Look how poorly they are doing when crime rates are low ( I'm not condoning the rank and file LEO, but the legal system for forcing them to police political crimes rather than violent ).
*
Almost everyone could give two craps about anyone else. They are out for their families. There is no more civic pride or perceived responsibility ( gee, another victim of the welfare state, who would have guessed? ). They know the cops won't help them, and most likely neither will their neighbors ( flash back to the NYC city mugging/murder where no one responded to screams ). They know when economies do poorly the crime rate increases. People are not stupid, at least when it comes to their personal gain. They realize they have to do something now instead of waiting ( flash back to the stories of LA riots and having to wait two weeks for a shotgun [ ok, I'm not positive about the length of the waiting period, the last gun I bought in California was about 1992 ] ). The rush might not be because we all fear gun control but because we all fear out of control crime.
*
What does this have to do with survivalism? Not much of anything. I like hearing myself think since I'm so wonderful at it. Today is the anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helen's, back in 1980. It's probably the best thing that ever happened to any nearby burg. Tourists number a half million a year. That was on National Pravda Radio this morning. Some times they are good for something besides "all is well, do not panic" fluff pieces. I don't have much else for you today. No barnyard flu massacres. The Happy Financial News is the same- nothing drastic just the same steady drop down the rabbit hole that we've had for the last year or so. I'll see if I can't get riled up about something tomorrow.
END
I know a lot of you voted for The Dark Knight. Don't lie to me! Some of you actually think voting will change something, and of those some of you thought a commissar would be better than a brown shirt. I'm not saying you are necessarily wrong, since they are two sides of the same coin. The reason I bring this up is that every time I whine about Uncle Obammy someone chastises me for not picking on Bush equally. I can see where it might seem that way, but its not really fair picking on the mentally challenged, now is it? Oh, I still did it, I just tried to refrain myself occasionally. And my original readers, if they still hung around after all those years of lowered expectations, could tell you I was distrustful and critical of Bush Senior. Read my lips, I'm a Republican, my butt.
*
What I would like to propose today is that perhaps Obammy is somewhat innocent. Not totally, he could still be in the running as the Antichrist as easily as he could be for the Titanic captain. But at least in one aspect, he could be less guilty than accused. I'm talking about the cause of increased gun sales. Now, please hear me out here. I'm not saying we have nothing to worry about. Most likely we do. Obammy is a Democrat out of real conviction. I'm sure he truly wants to turn whatever sliver of free market that is left into a five year state run plan. The only reason he can't nationalize industries quicker is because the printing presses can't run any faster. And he's having a hard time getting East German communists visas so he has reliable advisers on how to run a total police state. Deep down he would love to ban all pocket knives, BB guns and flammable aerosol cans. Having said that, I don't think the fear on the Clinton II Gun Ban is what is motivating everyone to buy guns and ammunition.
*
Again, I'm not saying it is not a danger. I'm saying that the huge numbers of buyers, many new, can't all be explained by politics. I think that a lot of people are acting out of economic motivations. They remember the 1970's and the extreme crime and they are scared. They know we are headed down the same road and they want personal protection. I can't say how much of each motivation there is. I'm sure the majority is fear of total gun control. But I also think a fair number are worried about increased crime. They don't think all the guns will be banned, they think the police will be ineffective against crime. Look how poorly they are doing when crime rates are low ( I'm not condoning the rank and file LEO, but the legal system for forcing them to police political crimes rather than violent ).
*
Almost everyone could give two craps about anyone else. They are out for their families. There is no more civic pride or perceived responsibility ( gee, another victim of the welfare state, who would have guessed? ). They know the cops won't help them, and most likely neither will their neighbors ( flash back to the NYC city mugging/murder where no one responded to screams ). They know when economies do poorly the crime rate increases. People are not stupid, at least when it comes to their personal gain. They realize they have to do something now instead of waiting ( flash back to the stories of LA riots and having to wait two weeks for a shotgun [ ok, I'm not positive about the length of the waiting period, the last gun I bought in California was about 1992 ] ). The rush might not be because we all fear gun control but because we all fear out of control crime.
*
What does this have to do with survivalism? Not much of anything. I like hearing myself think since I'm so wonderful at it. Today is the anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helen's, back in 1980. It's probably the best thing that ever happened to any nearby burg. Tourists number a half million a year. That was on National Pravda Radio this morning. Some times they are good for something besides "all is well, do not panic" fluff pieces. I don't have much else for you today. No barnyard flu massacres. The Happy Financial News is the same- nothing drastic just the same steady drop down the rabbit hole that we've had for the last year or so. I'll see if I can't get riled up about something tomorrow.
END
Friday, May 15, 2009
obammy youth
OBAMMY YOUTH
Okay, I wanted to write about 12 volt for morons ( if I can easily work on 12v, anyone can ). I really, really, honest injun did. As a matter of fact, that topic kept popping up in my mind as I was peddling home last night. Which was a bit annoying since I had to write another page of fiction when I got home ( at first I was going to do two pages a day, but I settled down to a guaranteed one a day- already I'm having cloudy days and I lack a lot of time at the end of the day- www.bisonia.blogspot.com ). However, once I went over to Survival Acres this morning and saw the article on Boy Scout Explorers With Assault Weapons, I knew I had to write about that.
*
Does the general public not even smell the slightest bit of irony here? Are they so preoccupied with Ever Increasing Home Values To Fund Florida Retirement that they will do anything to keep their middle class lifestyles, including Constitution Burning? Well, yeh, no crap. Not like that is anything new. FDR turned the citizenry into mindless little comrades with the promise of a steady job churning out war materials ( even though it was the bankers [ you know, the guys that owned that crippled little puke ] that caused the Depression in the first place then profited from a contrived war ). If they gave up a lot more freedom then, they sure as hell won't mind giving up the last of it now. Which is why I'm not in any hurry to be a macho little revolutionary, nine out of ten citizens would turn me in for for less than a few pieces of silver ( so why should they benefit from me risking my life? ). I can actually see why revolutionaries turn on the populace once they overthrow the last corrupt regime. Okay, so 99 out of a hundred want nothing more than to do the least amount of work possible for their daily bread and don't care who delivers it- Jefferson, Hitler or Stalin.
*
But isn't it amazing, still. People allow themselves to believe the propaganda. First, because it requires no thinking. Then, because it gives them an excuse to go along with tyranny ( "But we're the US-we have the most freedom" ). No one sees the new Hitler Youth being formed here? The Junior Pigs ( pardon me, I mean the Explorers ) used to just be about a basic introduction to law enforcement. They mostly provided traffic control at public events like the Fourth Of July. Now, you got these little Future Fascists training in urban assault? With fully automatic weapons ( okay, they are plastic pellet guns, but that's realistic enough training for their purposes ). Fighting terrorists my liver spotted ass cheeks. Fighting freedom is more like it.
*
Not too many years ago there was a huge stink about child soldiers. Oy! The brutes are forcing twelve year olds to pick up an AK-47 and go to war! The humanity! Okay, I don't know if these were women writers, faggots, or just had really PC moms that breast fed their kids may past a decent time, then wouldn't allow any toy guns around the well padded apartment. Boys love guns! It is the most natural thing in the world for boys to want to kill things. Thank God for that, or the human race wouldn't be around now. I can't conceive of it being too hard of a recruitment job to get those kids in a military organization ( or criminal, same thing most places ). Add in the grinding poverty the kids grew up in and they probably want to join up as it offers a way up, if not out. I'm not saying they would want to stay soldiers once the fighting starts, but then that is a natural reaction for anyone regardless of age.
*
So, riddle me this, Batass. Why is it different when we start churning out boy soldiers? Just because we don't allow them to actually see combat until they are eighteen? BS. We train them at a very impressionable age and also indoctrinate them into the totalitarian mindset. We are turning out soldiers that want to kill for the supreme leader. At least kids in Libya or wherever have no choice due to famine or poverty. Our Gestapo's only motivation is to keep the current power structure in place. Also, let's remember the movie Red Dawn. Remember the Soviet commander training his troops about guerrillas? He was telling them that the Boy Scouts were a paramilitary organization that had turned out these vicious young killers. It was funny when we first watched the movie because it was the soviets that enrolled their youth in military indoctrination camps. Well, now our Boy Scouts are a paramilitary organization churning out vicious killers.
*
Sorry, I might be overreacting here. I was exposed to the Explorers years back. My best friend through junior and senior high was in that organization. He went on to work for the county prison ( to get a foot in the door to become a LEO ) after going through the academy, and I went into the Army and was an MP. We both wanted law enforcement careers. I turned into an anarchist, I imagine he's already retired as a cop. The point was that I was pro-cop and even got some experience at it. Not quite an inside voice, but at least I had exposure. I had mixed feelings about the Explorers even back then. I really got crabby about them when the little narcs worked to entrap retail clerks in underage sale stings that were financed by Clinton. That cost me several fines plus lost wages ( having to quite the industry to avoid age sensitive sales ) totalling about fifteen grand. So by now, I have no tolerance for their shenanigans.
*
Remember the pictures of the really young German trooper with the anti-tank weapon, waiting for the Soviet advance into Berlin? You'll see that look again when the little bastards are getting ready to blast your car at a weapons check road block. Mark my words.
END
Okay, I wanted to write about 12 volt for morons ( if I can easily work on 12v, anyone can ). I really, really, honest injun did. As a matter of fact, that topic kept popping up in my mind as I was peddling home last night. Which was a bit annoying since I had to write another page of fiction when I got home ( at first I was going to do two pages a day, but I settled down to a guaranteed one a day- already I'm having cloudy days and I lack a lot of time at the end of the day- www.bisonia.blogspot.com ). However, once I went over to Survival Acres this morning and saw the article on Boy Scout Explorers With Assault Weapons, I knew I had to write about that.
*
Does the general public not even smell the slightest bit of irony here? Are they so preoccupied with Ever Increasing Home Values To Fund Florida Retirement that they will do anything to keep their middle class lifestyles, including Constitution Burning? Well, yeh, no crap. Not like that is anything new. FDR turned the citizenry into mindless little comrades with the promise of a steady job churning out war materials ( even though it was the bankers [ you know, the guys that owned that crippled little puke ] that caused the Depression in the first place then profited from a contrived war ). If they gave up a lot more freedom then, they sure as hell won't mind giving up the last of it now. Which is why I'm not in any hurry to be a macho little revolutionary, nine out of ten citizens would turn me in for for less than a few pieces of silver ( so why should they benefit from me risking my life? ). I can actually see why revolutionaries turn on the populace once they overthrow the last corrupt regime. Okay, so 99 out of a hundred want nothing more than to do the least amount of work possible for their daily bread and don't care who delivers it- Jefferson, Hitler or Stalin.
*
But isn't it amazing, still. People allow themselves to believe the propaganda. First, because it requires no thinking. Then, because it gives them an excuse to go along with tyranny ( "But we're the US-we have the most freedom" ). No one sees the new Hitler Youth being formed here? The Junior Pigs ( pardon me, I mean the Explorers ) used to just be about a basic introduction to law enforcement. They mostly provided traffic control at public events like the Fourth Of July. Now, you got these little Future Fascists training in urban assault? With fully automatic weapons ( okay, they are plastic pellet guns, but that's realistic enough training for their purposes ). Fighting terrorists my liver spotted ass cheeks. Fighting freedom is more like it.
*
Not too many years ago there was a huge stink about child soldiers. Oy! The brutes are forcing twelve year olds to pick up an AK-47 and go to war! The humanity! Okay, I don't know if these were women writers, faggots, or just had really PC moms that breast fed their kids may past a decent time, then wouldn't allow any toy guns around the well padded apartment. Boys love guns! It is the most natural thing in the world for boys to want to kill things. Thank God for that, or the human race wouldn't be around now. I can't conceive of it being too hard of a recruitment job to get those kids in a military organization ( or criminal, same thing most places ). Add in the grinding poverty the kids grew up in and they probably want to join up as it offers a way up, if not out. I'm not saying they would want to stay soldiers once the fighting starts, but then that is a natural reaction for anyone regardless of age.
*
So, riddle me this, Batass. Why is it different when we start churning out boy soldiers? Just because we don't allow them to actually see combat until they are eighteen? BS. We train them at a very impressionable age and also indoctrinate them into the totalitarian mindset. We are turning out soldiers that want to kill for the supreme leader. At least kids in Libya or wherever have no choice due to famine or poverty. Our Gestapo's only motivation is to keep the current power structure in place. Also, let's remember the movie Red Dawn. Remember the Soviet commander training his troops about guerrillas? He was telling them that the Boy Scouts were a paramilitary organization that had turned out these vicious young killers. It was funny when we first watched the movie because it was the soviets that enrolled their youth in military indoctrination camps. Well, now our Boy Scouts are a paramilitary organization churning out vicious killers.
*
Sorry, I might be overreacting here. I was exposed to the Explorers years back. My best friend through junior and senior high was in that organization. He went on to work for the county prison ( to get a foot in the door to become a LEO ) after going through the academy, and I went into the Army and was an MP. We both wanted law enforcement careers. I turned into an anarchist, I imagine he's already retired as a cop. The point was that I was pro-cop and even got some experience at it. Not quite an inside voice, but at least I had exposure. I had mixed feelings about the Explorers even back then. I really got crabby about them when the little narcs worked to entrap retail clerks in underage sale stings that were financed by Clinton. That cost me several fines plus lost wages ( having to quite the industry to avoid age sensitive sales ) totalling about fifteen grand. So by now, I have no tolerance for their shenanigans.
*
Remember the pictures of the really young German trooper with the anti-tank weapon, waiting for the Soviet advance into Berlin? You'll see that look again when the little bastards are getting ready to blast your car at a weapons check road block. Mark my words.
END
Thursday, May 14, 2009
sewer slime
SEWER SLIME
My original sewer set up at the Bison Compound was a grey water septic and hauling the black into town. My septic was worse than ghetto, but it limped along disposing of the two gallons of liquid a day ( two people back then ). Too much clay, only a five gallon container and no leach field. But since I was so frugal with my water usage it was okay. My original design was the trailers hose diverted into a metal bucket filled with rocks ( the bottom had holes punched out ). After a few weeks of that I had to dig the whole thing back up, which was a wonderful job, and redo it. This time I put the five gallons of rocks under the empty container, to double the holding area. It still wasn't perfect, the ground was a bit on the soggy side come rainy season. The grass/weeds were pretty green though.
*
Well, as you know, the Asshat Brigade swung into motion and narced me out to the county. Friday the 13th I got a notice telling me I couldn't have an unlicensed septic system. Yeah, no crap Sherlock. I wrote back and told them it was only grey water and I would disconnect it. I didn't hear anything else so that blew over nicely. I did have to buy a $95 portable sewer holding tank from the RV store that weekend. If wife number two wouldn't send a ninja death squad after me for failure to pay child support I would be living as far away from people as I could. I think I could be a desert rat. Damn people. Anyway, now that I had to haul my urine into town, I figured I had better be all legal and proper and haul my turds also. Herein lies today's tale.
*
The weather is no longer too severe, so freezing wasn't an issue. But I knew it would be next winter, so I didn't want to use my trailers holding tank for waste. And how can you gauge how much you have down there? The portable tank is only fifteen gallons, and it weighs way too much to get up into the truck bed when full. So what I did was add a gallon of water to a five gallon bucket with seat, added that green concentrate deodorizer for RV holding tanks ( about an ounce to the gallon of water did an okay job ) and used the new chemical toilet as needed. Not that I needed to use it that much. After the first use when the turd landed and shot a bolt of chemical water back up to my bunghole, my bowels simply froze up. I had bad constipation, and that is pretty hard to do eating whole wheat bread everyday. I finely managed to squeeze out a few painful ones and at the end of the week it was time to get rid of my waste. I planned on dumping the bucket down the trailers toilet, then opening the drain cap and catch the waste into the portable tank, then throw a few gallons of water down the toilet to flush out any solids. Three gallons of water, one or two of urine plus solids shouldn't weight too much. Then it would be off to the gas station on my weekly trip to town, pay the three dollar dumping fee, and be waste free legally.
*
Well, here's what actually happened. When I went to dump the bucket down the trailer toilet the top liquid consisting mostly of water and deodorizer chemical poured out. The bottom layer pretty much stayed put. The turds were now liquid soup. They splattered into the toilet bowl. I almost puked, but managed to keep the bucket aimed properly for the eternity it took to slop the slime from the bucket. Then it took three gallons of water to flush the bowel and the bucket. This stuff was clinging everywhere. Then it took another few gallons to flush the holding tank. By the time I was done my portable tank was pretty much full. I don't know how I managed to lift it into the pickup. Now, keep in mind that this was about two months ago. It still got a bit chilly in the morning. And I'm at the gas station about six thirty, seven in the morning, wanting to dump my treasure before I continued on to do the grocery shopping. By the time I got the tank down and positioned at the sewer dump my hands were frozen ( no way I was going to infect my wool mittens ). Then I had to try to dump the tank without splattering my shoes or drop the tank with numb hands.
*
This ended my liquid sewer experiment. I understand you can do this a lot easier. There was that one web page about the couple in Utah, where they bought that doohickey that chews up your sewage and pumps it uphill. They filled up their holding tank then used that to fill a big container already in their truck bed. They drive to town and empty, no problems. The only problem with that is, one, you need the money for the machine and the tank and, two, you need to keep your tank from freezing in the winter. That is above my pay grade. My solution was to go back to the bags of sawdust for solids and to haul only the urine ( with enough bath water to flush the drain ). I can handle urine without being too grossed out. Bath water is only a few gallons a week ( washing with a half gallon from a jug shower and dishes only take a few cups of water ) and is easily poured into the brush. If I'm ever stranded in the winter I'll do that with the urine also. When it is really cold, like the inevitable week of cloudy and teens for the high times I'll pee in a jug all day, flush it after my bath, then immediately drain both tanks to avoid freezing. I keep the portable tank inside an old chest freezer I got for free so hopefully that doesn't freeze. There you go, how not to crap in the woods.
END
Thanks, comment leaving loyal minions. Great advice, stuff I didn't know ( the shoo goo substitutes ).
My original sewer set up at the Bison Compound was a grey water septic and hauling the black into town. My septic was worse than ghetto, but it limped along disposing of the two gallons of liquid a day ( two people back then ). Too much clay, only a five gallon container and no leach field. But since I was so frugal with my water usage it was okay. My original design was the trailers hose diverted into a metal bucket filled with rocks ( the bottom had holes punched out ). After a few weeks of that I had to dig the whole thing back up, which was a wonderful job, and redo it. This time I put the five gallons of rocks under the empty container, to double the holding area. It still wasn't perfect, the ground was a bit on the soggy side come rainy season. The grass/weeds were pretty green though.
*
Well, as you know, the Asshat Brigade swung into motion and narced me out to the county. Friday the 13th I got a notice telling me I couldn't have an unlicensed septic system. Yeah, no crap Sherlock. I wrote back and told them it was only grey water and I would disconnect it. I didn't hear anything else so that blew over nicely. I did have to buy a $95 portable sewer holding tank from the RV store that weekend. If wife number two wouldn't send a ninja death squad after me for failure to pay child support I would be living as far away from people as I could. I think I could be a desert rat. Damn people. Anyway, now that I had to haul my urine into town, I figured I had better be all legal and proper and haul my turds also. Herein lies today's tale.
*
The weather is no longer too severe, so freezing wasn't an issue. But I knew it would be next winter, so I didn't want to use my trailers holding tank for waste. And how can you gauge how much you have down there? The portable tank is only fifteen gallons, and it weighs way too much to get up into the truck bed when full. So what I did was add a gallon of water to a five gallon bucket with seat, added that green concentrate deodorizer for RV holding tanks ( about an ounce to the gallon of water did an okay job ) and used the new chemical toilet as needed. Not that I needed to use it that much. After the first use when the turd landed and shot a bolt of chemical water back up to my bunghole, my bowels simply froze up. I had bad constipation, and that is pretty hard to do eating whole wheat bread everyday. I finely managed to squeeze out a few painful ones and at the end of the week it was time to get rid of my waste. I planned on dumping the bucket down the trailers toilet, then opening the drain cap and catch the waste into the portable tank, then throw a few gallons of water down the toilet to flush out any solids. Three gallons of water, one or two of urine plus solids shouldn't weight too much. Then it would be off to the gas station on my weekly trip to town, pay the three dollar dumping fee, and be waste free legally.
*
Well, here's what actually happened. When I went to dump the bucket down the trailer toilet the top liquid consisting mostly of water and deodorizer chemical poured out. The bottom layer pretty much stayed put. The turds were now liquid soup. They splattered into the toilet bowl. I almost puked, but managed to keep the bucket aimed properly for the eternity it took to slop the slime from the bucket. Then it took three gallons of water to flush the bowel and the bucket. This stuff was clinging everywhere. Then it took another few gallons to flush the holding tank. By the time I was done my portable tank was pretty much full. I don't know how I managed to lift it into the pickup. Now, keep in mind that this was about two months ago. It still got a bit chilly in the morning. And I'm at the gas station about six thirty, seven in the morning, wanting to dump my treasure before I continued on to do the grocery shopping. By the time I got the tank down and positioned at the sewer dump my hands were frozen ( no way I was going to infect my wool mittens ). Then I had to try to dump the tank without splattering my shoes or drop the tank with numb hands.
*
This ended my liquid sewer experiment. I understand you can do this a lot easier. There was that one web page about the couple in Utah, where they bought that doohickey that chews up your sewage and pumps it uphill. They filled up their holding tank then used that to fill a big container already in their truck bed. They drive to town and empty, no problems. The only problem with that is, one, you need the money for the machine and the tank and, two, you need to keep your tank from freezing in the winter. That is above my pay grade. My solution was to go back to the bags of sawdust for solids and to haul only the urine ( with enough bath water to flush the drain ). I can handle urine without being too grossed out. Bath water is only a few gallons a week ( washing with a half gallon from a jug shower and dishes only take a few cups of water ) and is easily poured into the brush. If I'm ever stranded in the winter I'll do that with the urine also. When it is really cold, like the inevitable week of cloudy and teens for the high times I'll pee in a jug all day, flush it after my bath, then immediately drain both tanks to avoid freezing. I keep the portable tank inside an old chest freezer I got for free so hopefully that doesn't freeze. There you go, how not to crap in the woods.
END
Thanks, comment leaving loyal minions. Great advice, stuff I didn't know ( the shoo goo substitutes ).
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
got goo?
GOT GOO?
Boy, this crowd is getting tough. I don't know if it was because of the comments section blowout, or the Johnny-Come-Latelies just got tired of my lip, or if there was simply a collective "what have you done for us lately?". Whatever the reason, I lost a bit over twenty percent of my readers and corresponding ad revenue. The economy is shrinking by twenty percent a year, you would think my numbers would increase. Well, I could sit around and feel sorry for myself ( and believe me, it was tempting ). Or, I could desperately flail about and try to do something to get my reader numbers up again ( I was at a steady 1k a day and change, May's numbers are in the eight hundreds ). So, two things. One, I've reintroduced the dirt cheap dirt blog ( www.dirtcheapdirt.blogspot.com ). Junk land under two grand or under $150 a month payments. I realize few of you will care, but I'm going to make the effort. E-Bay land has come down a lot recently. A much better bargain than a few months ago. It could be a one time spurt as inventories are cleared in desperation, so don't delay if you want some ( for those wondering, my lots are still for sale ). I don't have the online time like I used to, so I can't pick out the ones only zoned for travel trailers. You'll have to beware of that. Two, I'm going to start writing fiction. I'm going to post it daily. I know that sucks as far as reading it, but it will give me the needed kick in the pants to keep at it. When done, I'll put it all together in an e-book. I'm starting posting tomorrow so I can get ahead two days and have it posted over the weekend. It will be at www.bisonia.blogspot.com . Thank you loyal minion for that title suggestion. The comments will be open for ideas or critics.
*
Got Shoe Goo? Most likely we all have plenty of extra shoe laces. I stockpiled a few extra cans of shoe polish to keep the leather on my boots protected ( I don't know if mink oil or something similar is better, I've always just used polish ). The one thing I didn't have was Shoe Goo. I had tried it once years ago and been disappointed ( most likely because I waited too long to repair and the split was pretty big ). But I love my current pair of boots. They are a cheap pair of "Survivors" from Wal-Mart, but they were free, broke in and have steel toes. I had pulled them out of the trash, disinfected them by leaving out in the freezing weather then drowning them in Lysol spray. I pulled my laces off an old pair of boots I was throwing away ( the Payless boots which were splitting at the sole ) and have worn them almost two years now. I didn't want to give them up. I can see why they were thrown away, the inside steel cap sometimes catches your little toe nail. But it rarely happens and I can deal ( although it can almost bring tears to your eyes when it happens ). Alas, the stitching on one heel was splitting away. I went to China-Mart and bought Shoe Goo. Four friggin dollars for a tube!
*
Which is why I had kept putting off buying a tube. When you are wearing free or very cheap shoes it seems like a shame to spend that kind of money. But, twenty four hours later I had my boots back, and no more one foot colder than the other ( yes, I feel like a moron not noticing it earlier ) on the early morning commute. You need to stockpile this stuff. Especially if you practice the thrift store shoe stockpiling technique. You just know those will tear apart in no time. I know, this kind of thing is obvious. But it doesn't hurt to get reminded once and awhile about the small obvious things. You have your eye on Norway ( forth largest global oil exporter ) seeing a 7% decline in production in April alone and you naturally forget about the small stuff. They say the item most needed by guerrilla forces is footwear. Granted, you aren't in a jungle having your shoes rot away. But you did buy them from China so the performance will be about the same. If you're not a cobbler, you need to keep your crap shoes going as long as possible.
END
Boy, this crowd is getting tough. I don't know if it was because of the comments section blowout, or the Johnny-Come-Latelies just got tired of my lip, or if there was simply a collective "what have you done for us lately?". Whatever the reason, I lost a bit over twenty percent of my readers and corresponding ad revenue. The economy is shrinking by twenty percent a year, you would think my numbers would increase. Well, I could sit around and feel sorry for myself ( and believe me, it was tempting ). Or, I could desperately flail about and try to do something to get my reader numbers up again ( I was at a steady 1k a day and change, May's numbers are in the eight hundreds ). So, two things. One, I've reintroduced the dirt cheap dirt blog ( www.dirtcheapdirt.blogspot.com ). Junk land under two grand or under $150 a month payments. I realize few of you will care, but I'm going to make the effort. E-Bay land has come down a lot recently. A much better bargain than a few months ago. It could be a one time spurt as inventories are cleared in desperation, so don't delay if you want some ( for those wondering, my lots are still for sale ). I don't have the online time like I used to, so I can't pick out the ones only zoned for travel trailers. You'll have to beware of that. Two, I'm going to start writing fiction. I'm going to post it daily. I know that sucks as far as reading it, but it will give me the needed kick in the pants to keep at it. When done, I'll put it all together in an e-book. I'm starting posting tomorrow so I can get ahead two days and have it posted over the weekend. It will be at www.bisonia.blogspot.com . Thank you loyal minion for that title suggestion. The comments will be open for ideas or critics.
*
Got Shoe Goo? Most likely we all have plenty of extra shoe laces. I stockpiled a few extra cans of shoe polish to keep the leather on my boots protected ( I don't know if mink oil or something similar is better, I've always just used polish ). The one thing I didn't have was Shoe Goo. I had tried it once years ago and been disappointed ( most likely because I waited too long to repair and the split was pretty big ). But I love my current pair of boots. They are a cheap pair of "Survivors" from Wal-Mart, but they were free, broke in and have steel toes. I had pulled them out of the trash, disinfected them by leaving out in the freezing weather then drowning them in Lysol spray. I pulled my laces off an old pair of boots I was throwing away ( the Payless boots which were splitting at the sole ) and have worn them almost two years now. I didn't want to give them up. I can see why they were thrown away, the inside steel cap sometimes catches your little toe nail. But it rarely happens and I can deal ( although it can almost bring tears to your eyes when it happens ). Alas, the stitching on one heel was splitting away. I went to China-Mart and bought Shoe Goo. Four friggin dollars for a tube!
*
Which is why I had kept putting off buying a tube. When you are wearing free or very cheap shoes it seems like a shame to spend that kind of money. But, twenty four hours later I had my boots back, and no more one foot colder than the other ( yes, I feel like a moron not noticing it earlier ) on the early morning commute. You need to stockpile this stuff. Especially if you practice the thrift store shoe stockpiling technique. You just know those will tear apart in no time. I know, this kind of thing is obvious. But it doesn't hurt to get reminded once and awhile about the small obvious things. You have your eye on Norway ( forth largest global oil exporter ) seeing a 7% decline in production in April alone and you naturally forget about the small stuff. They say the item most needed by guerrilla forces is footwear. Granted, you aren't in a jungle having your shoes rot away. But you did buy them from China so the performance will be about the same. If you're not a cobbler, you need to keep your crap shoes going as long as possible.
END
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
well capping
WELL CAPPING
Yesterday was post 777, which normally would get me all excited about a lucky number. But, alas, that includes guest articles so it's not MY number of articles. But very soon, oh yes, very soon the planets will align and Lady Luck will look down upon me, give a little shrug, and grant her favors out of pity. This is like Christmas, it could be anything. Today was payday so I went to my banks at the start of lunch hour. Usually this wastes half my lunch hour but traffic cooperated and it only took me twenty minutes. Still, it will be a shorter article today so I figured it would be the well capping article. A loyal minion alerted me to this. He sounded concerned, but I can't share the excitement. I'm not saying he is wrong, just that I don't agree with it. Believe me, I would love to be wrong.
*
I don't remember where this was exactly, I think the Gulf Of Mexico. Supposedly, the companies drill a well and then immediately cap it. The implication being that they are waiting for prices to go up and that we have a bizillion barrels of oil left and thus will never run out. I don't doubt that plenty of wells get capped without production. I just don't think it is an evil plot. I love conspiracy theories, but if it doesn't benefit someone it is easily discounted. I like to think that the Iraqi war was about the oil, but who benefits? Keeping oil off the market did raise prices, true, but with the violence destroying infrastructure it seems counterproductive. If the oil can never be produced, doesn't that hurt the companies long term? Unless they are really trapped in short term thinking. So I guess that could go either way. But destroying future supplies for short term profit is far more believable than denying immediate profits for long term gain. Very few companies can even conceive that a viable business is needed past the next quarterly profit figures. And if you are paying massive amounts of money to drill, don't you need cash flow to service the debt you have?
*
There is always a certain failure rate with drilling. That is built into the profit equation. And even when you hit oil, you sometimes need to cap the well anyway. If you can't get over a certain daily production you can't recover the costs of your overhead ( labor, equipment, energy, etc. ). So, as the price of crude goes down, you need to cap more and more marginally producing wells. Your overhead costs don't fall with the price of crude. I think this is a simple explanation and doesn't need a conspiracy theory to explain. Calling this a conspiracy also falls into the wishful thinking category. There is no simple answer to our petroleum addiction. The withdrawals will come. Period. As I said, I hope I'm wrong about this. I would love to be wrong, and have a huge supply of oil waiting as we needed it. Alas, I'm not an optimist when it comes to that sort of thing. And perhaps I'm overlooking something. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. In the meantime, I'll continue flapping my arms and screaming in a shrill voice that we are all going to die.
END
Like economics? Check out http://ispeakofpeak.blogspot.com/
Thanks, Backwoods Blog for this http://backwoods-living.blogspot.com/2009/05/editorial-peak-oil-not-speculation.html which is interesting although not really related to the above article.
Buy my crap at www.bisonpress.com
Yesterday was post 777, which normally would get me all excited about a lucky number. But, alas, that includes guest articles so it's not MY number of articles. But very soon, oh yes, very soon the planets will align and Lady Luck will look down upon me, give a little shrug, and grant her favors out of pity. This is like Christmas, it could be anything. Today was payday so I went to my banks at the start of lunch hour. Usually this wastes half my lunch hour but traffic cooperated and it only took me twenty minutes. Still, it will be a shorter article today so I figured it would be the well capping article. A loyal minion alerted me to this. He sounded concerned, but I can't share the excitement. I'm not saying he is wrong, just that I don't agree with it. Believe me, I would love to be wrong.
*
I don't remember where this was exactly, I think the Gulf Of Mexico. Supposedly, the companies drill a well and then immediately cap it. The implication being that they are waiting for prices to go up and that we have a bizillion barrels of oil left and thus will never run out. I don't doubt that plenty of wells get capped without production. I just don't think it is an evil plot. I love conspiracy theories, but if it doesn't benefit someone it is easily discounted. I like to think that the Iraqi war was about the oil, but who benefits? Keeping oil off the market did raise prices, true, but with the violence destroying infrastructure it seems counterproductive. If the oil can never be produced, doesn't that hurt the companies long term? Unless they are really trapped in short term thinking. So I guess that could go either way. But destroying future supplies for short term profit is far more believable than denying immediate profits for long term gain. Very few companies can even conceive that a viable business is needed past the next quarterly profit figures. And if you are paying massive amounts of money to drill, don't you need cash flow to service the debt you have?
*
There is always a certain failure rate with drilling. That is built into the profit equation. And even when you hit oil, you sometimes need to cap the well anyway. If you can't get over a certain daily production you can't recover the costs of your overhead ( labor, equipment, energy, etc. ). So, as the price of crude goes down, you need to cap more and more marginally producing wells. Your overhead costs don't fall with the price of crude. I think this is a simple explanation and doesn't need a conspiracy theory to explain. Calling this a conspiracy also falls into the wishful thinking category. There is no simple answer to our petroleum addiction. The withdrawals will come. Period. As I said, I hope I'm wrong about this. I would love to be wrong, and have a huge supply of oil waiting as we needed it. Alas, I'm not an optimist when it comes to that sort of thing. And perhaps I'm overlooking something. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. In the meantime, I'll continue flapping my arms and screaming in a shrill voice that we are all going to die.
END
Like economics? Check out http://ispeakofpeak.blogspot.com/
Thanks, Backwoods Blog for this http://backwoods-living.blogspot.com/2009/05/editorial-peak-oil-not-speculation.html which is interesting although not really related to the above article.
Buy my crap at www.bisonpress.com
Monday, May 11, 2009
vacuuming
VACUUMING
Just to prove to you that I actually listen to my loyal minions when they contribute to the comments section, this week will mostly be "nuts and bolts" articles. That's what you wanted, that's what you are going to get. Okay, honestly I prefer these kinds of articles myself. I guess I just kind of forgot there are a few other subjects I could cover on living off grid. Perhaps you think I'm really reaching for ideas. Perhaps it is all obvious to you. If I'm lucky, it helps you out a little, something you haven't thought much about. Today, cleaning your carpets without electricity. Later this week I will cover shoe first aid, 12v systems and talk more on sewage. Just to keep things from getting too practical ( you might start thinking this is Backwoods Home Magazine ) I'll also cover the oil capping conspiracy.
*
I don't think a lot of us give much thought to cleaning carpets. You go to Wal-Mart and spend thirty of forty bucks and buy a cheap China vacuum and a few times a week you suck up the Cheerios you spilt and the dirt you tracked in. If you really put a lot of thought into it you might spend the extra ten bucks now and get a bagless unit so you don't have to worry about replacement bags later. Once or twice a year you might rent a commercial steam unit for cleaning the ground in baby puke and for when the dog went scooting across the floor either trying to get at his worms or when he didn't feel like licking himself clean. And that's about as much thought as you give cleaning rugs.
*
I gave a lot of thought to doing everything off grid long before I moved. Mostly it was because I was getting paid to do it by writing this blog and my booklets, and also because I was more determined than ever to stop paying rent at the trailer park. The owner was so greedy he gave Jews a bad name ( as in, he was the epitome of the stereotype ). He got almost twenty grand just from me. Okay, you are buying a service, I get that. I am all for the free market. But charging all the market can bare, plus pushing that envelope, plus making peoples lives miserable in the process, was much more than was necessary. Just one example, I had to park my van in storage elsewhere because he thought it looked trashy. That cost me another $600 over two years. So moving off grid not only became a perceived necessity as the economy tanked, I had been motivated for some time by being ripped off by a landlord. Most of my ideas worked out, some I still had to modify. Some didn't work at all, but they were a minority. As I told you already, my last job included going to the dump every day. I trash picked a huge amount of very practical items ( and had to throw away a lot of crap when I moved, most electricity centered such as desktop computers and videotapes ). One was a sweeper vacuum.
*
The sweeper vacuum is a non-electric vacuum. It is nothing more than a small box on wheels attached to a pole. Inside are two rods with brushes spiraling around them. You push it forward and the brushes spin, sucking trash behind them in a small holding area. When done, you flip open the compartment and empty out. And, entirely coincidentally I'm sure, there now happens to be a sweeper vacuum on my Amazon products page, linked from www.bisonpress.com. It's only $15. This isn't a perfect machine. It mostly picks up particles rather than dirt. But I love mine. It picks up all the cat liter the two jerks in charge throw out of the box when I'm home ( even sometimes when I'm not ) as if to tell me that 1) the box is two small even though I upgraded from a liter box to a tote for more room and I can't fit a larger size under the table, 2) how dare I only change the liter once a week, 3) why can't I scoop out the turds more than once a day?, 4) they preferred the old diatamacious earth liter to the new clay liter even though the store selling the old style is 330 miles away, and 5) you are our bitch and you will clean up after us.
*
For dirt, you are going to have to do the old fashion take-it-outside-and-beat-it-with-a-stick routine. All of my rugs ( with underlying blankets for insulation ) are small enough that I can take them outside and flap them around or beat them against the side of the truck to get the dirt out. My living room rug is too big and heavy for that and is in desperate need of a cleaning. This is where a porch railing or a roof rafter in a barn would come in handy, but I don't have those. I think what I'll end up doing is draping it over the side of the pickup bed and beating the side hanging over the bed. The truck is beat up enough I don't have to worry about dings or dents. This points out why spring cleaning came about. Proper cleaning is impossible in a non-electric/poorly heated house year round, so you wait until it is warm enough where you can wear little clothing ( it's going to get filthy ) and do a deep clean. My shower stall/tub has a nasty build up of soap scum. In the winter, even if you heat up the water, you have to worry about either hauling out extra water or worry about it freezing. So it waits for spring, as do the rugs.
*
Almost all fabric is covered. That makes it easy to take the cover and shake it out. You don't have to worry about deep cleaning a stationary item. I don't want a generator, as I love my peace and quiet. And it's another item to maintain, then watch break, then stress about replacement. I could run the car and attach an inverter to it if I didn't want to suck up a lot of solar power. But a 800-1000 watt inverter is hideously expensive ( okay, that's relative, but to me it costs way too much whereas my 200 watt only cost $30 and it runs all the small items like DVD, TV, computer and hair clippers I use ). I can do without a conventional vacuum cleaner. The sweeper was free, a replacement is cheap. I could simply use a stiff broom to clean, and I do use that for spot areas such as the steps. But the sweeper makes it look so much better. I don't care too much about looks, obviously, but cluttered is one thing and looking dirty is quite another.
END
Just to prove to you that I actually listen to my loyal minions when they contribute to the comments section, this week will mostly be "nuts and bolts" articles. That's what you wanted, that's what you are going to get. Okay, honestly I prefer these kinds of articles myself. I guess I just kind of forgot there are a few other subjects I could cover on living off grid. Perhaps you think I'm really reaching for ideas. Perhaps it is all obvious to you. If I'm lucky, it helps you out a little, something you haven't thought much about. Today, cleaning your carpets without electricity. Later this week I will cover shoe first aid, 12v systems and talk more on sewage. Just to keep things from getting too practical ( you might start thinking this is Backwoods Home Magazine ) I'll also cover the oil capping conspiracy.
*
I don't think a lot of us give much thought to cleaning carpets. You go to Wal-Mart and spend thirty of forty bucks and buy a cheap China vacuum and a few times a week you suck up the Cheerios you spilt and the dirt you tracked in. If you really put a lot of thought into it you might spend the extra ten bucks now and get a bagless unit so you don't have to worry about replacement bags later. Once or twice a year you might rent a commercial steam unit for cleaning the ground in baby puke and for when the dog went scooting across the floor either trying to get at his worms or when he didn't feel like licking himself clean. And that's about as much thought as you give cleaning rugs.
*
I gave a lot of thought to doing everything off grid long before I moved. Mostly it was because I was getting paid to do it by writing this blog and my booklets, and also because I was more determined than ever to stop paying rent at the trailer park. The owner was so greedy he gave Jews a bad name ( as in, he was the epitome of the stereotype ). He got almost twenty grand just from me. Okay, you are buying a service, I get that. I am all for the free market. But charging all the market can bare, plus pushing that envelope, plus making peoples lives miserable in the process, was much more than was necessary. Just one example, I had to park my van in storage elsewhere because he thought it looked trashy. That cost me another $600 over two years. So moving off grid not only became a perceived necessity as the economy tanked, I had been motivated for some time by being ripped off by a landlord. Most of my ideas worked out, some I still had to modify. Some didn't work at all, but they were a minority. As I told you already, my last job included going to the dump every day. I trash picked a huge amount of very practical items ( and had to throw away a lot of crap when I moved, most electricity centered such as desktop computers and videotapes ). One was a sweeper vacuum.
*
The sweeper vacuum is a non-electric vacuum. It is nothing more than a small box on wheels attached to a pole. Inside are two rods with brushes spiraling around them. You push it forward and the brushes spin, sucking trash behind them in a small holding area. When done, you flip open the compartment and empty out. And, entirely coincidentally I'm sure, there now happens to be a sweeper vacuum on my Amazon products page, linked from www.bisonpress.com. It's only $15. This isn't a perfect machine. It mostly picks up particles rather than dirt. But I love mine. It picks up all the cat liter the two jerks in charge throw out of the box when I'm home ( even sometimes when I'm not ) as if to tell me that 1) the box is two small even though I upgraded from a liter box to a tote for more room and I can't fit a larger size under the table, 2) how dare I only change the liter once a week, 3) why can't I scoop out the turds more than once a day?, 4) they preferred the old diatamacious earth liter to the new clay liter even though the store selling the old style is 330 miles away, and 5) you are our bitch and you will clean up after us.
*
For dirt, you are going to have to do the old fashion take-it-outside-and-beat-it-with-a-stick routine. All of my rugs ( with underlying blankets for insulation ) are small enough that I can take them outside and flap them around or beat them against the side of the truck to get the dirt out. My living room rug is too big and heavy for that and is in desperate need of a cleaning. This is where a porch railing or a roof rafter in a barn would come in handy, but I don't have those. I think what I'll end up doing is draping it over the side of the pickup bed and beating the side hanging over the bed. The truck is beat up enough I don't have to worry about dings or dents. This points out why spring cleaning came about. Proper cleaning is impossible in a non-electric/poorly heated house year round, so you wait until it is warm enough where you can wear little clothing ( it's going to get filthy ) and do a deep clean. My shower stall/tub has a nasty build up of soap scum. In the winter, even if you heat up the water, you have to worry about either hauling out extra water or worry about it freezing. So it waits for spring, as do the rugs.
*
Almost all fabric is covered. That makes it easy to take the cover and shake it out. You don't have to worry about deep cleaning a stationary item. I don't want a generator, as I love my peace and quiet. And it's another item to maintain, then watch break, then stress about replacement. I could run the car and attach an inverter to it if I didn't want to suck up a lot of solar power. But a 800-1000 watt inverter is hideously expensive ( okay, that's relative, but to me it costs way too much whereas my 200 watt only cost $30 and it runs all the small items like DVD, TV, computer and hair clippers I use ). I can do without a conventional vacuum cleaner. The sweeper was free, a replacement is cheap. I could simply use a stiff broom to clean, and I do use that for spot areas such as the steps. But the sweeper makes it look so much better. I don't care too much about looks, obviously, but cluttered is one thing and looking dirty is quite another.
END
Saturday, May 09, 2009
guest article
GUEST ARTICLE
Lead source for Reloading
Ok, you all have your bolt action rifles for the big economic swan dive. Or perhaps you went a different route and have black powder. Either way, you are going to want to think about reloading in the long term future. Much has been discussed about bullet molds and melting down wheel weights (only the pure lead ones though). But there is another source of lead out there. Not as easy to get at as wheel weights, but probably even more abundant. Old lead acid car batteries. Not the sealed maintenance-free kind though. They can be used, but require much more care in getting the acid out.
**********
DISCLAIMER: Tearing open a battery can be dangerous, information provided for entertainment purposes only.
**********
An old lead acid car battery can be useful for a couple of different things. First thing you want to do is get some big heavy rubber gloves and face protection. Don't say you weren't warned if you try this and get hurt. First open the caps where you add water to the battery and pour off the liquid into an appropriate container. BE CAREFUL! This stuff is acid! It will eat your skin, your clothes, your porch, your dog and your livelihood if you spill it. Don't use metal containers!
**********
Once you have the acid safely into something (hopefully with a lid), put it aside. This liquid can be gently boiled down and made into a very strong acid which can be used with cottonballs to make that old standby, guncotton. Do a little research, or get a copy of the book "Caveman Chemistry" to learn how to do this.... an enterprising person could possibly figure out how to use it for reloading shotgun shells....
**********
Now you need another container large enough to hold the battery. Put the battery in and fill the tub with warm water. You will want to change the water a couple of times to dilute down any acid still in the battery. Shake the battery around in the water a couple of times to insure fresh water gets inside. ANOTHER DISCLAIMER: You need to figure out what to do with the waste water..... it is not recommended you just dump it down the drain.... though I imagine it will clean your pipes. If you are on septic, it will kill the benificial bacteria in your tank.
**********
Once the acid in the battery has been reduced/removed, take a hacksaw and cut that sucker open. (Try just cutting around the top and pulling the guts out...save the body) Again, wear proper protection and take precautions. Inside you should find anywhere from 10 - 20 pounds of lead. Clean it up if needed, separate anything else from the lead, chop it up into usable sizes and go to town with your bullet molds!
**********
One old battery can give you as much lead in one shot as driving all over town to tire shops looking for free wheel weights. So, 3 uses from one battery... bullets, guncotton, and the plastic body can be resued for a container when it is cleaned out.
**********
The importance of cleaning the lead before melting cannot be stressed enough.... if there are any traces of acid left when melting the lead, you will create very toxic fumes!
And someone correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall that the concentrated acid you get can be used to purify gold ore you dig out of the ground....
Lead source for Reloading
Ok, you all have your bolt action rifles for the big economic swan dive. Or perhaps you went a different route and have black powder. Either way, you are going to want to think about reloading in the long term future. Much has been discussed about bullet molds and melting down wheel weights (only the pure lead ones though). But there is another source of lead out there. Not as easy to get at as wheel weights, but probably even more abundant. Old lead acid car batteries. Not the sealed maintenance-free kind though. They can be used, but require much more care in getting the acid out.
**********
DISCLAIMER: Tearing open a battery can be dangerous, information provided for entertainment purposes only.
**********
An old lead acid car battery can be useful for a couple of different things. First thing you want to do is get some big heavy rubber gloves and face protection. Don't say you weren't warned if you try this and get hurt. First open the caps where you add water to the battery and pour off the liquid into an appropriate container. BE CAREFUL! This stuff is acid! It will eat your skin, your clothes, your porch, your dog and your livelihood if you spill it. Don't use metal containers!
**********
Once you have the acid safely into something (hopefully with a lid), put it aside. This liquid can be gently boiled down and made into a very strong acid which can be used with cottonballs to make that old standby, guncotton. Do a little research, or get a copy of the book "Caveman Chemistry" to learn how to do this.... an enterprising person could possibly figure out how to use it for reloading shotgun shells....
**********
Now you need another container large enough to hold the battery. Put the battery in and fill the tub with warm water. You will want to change the water a couple of times to dilute down any acid still in the battery. Shake the battery around in the water a couple of times to insure fresh water gets inside. ANOTHER DISCLAIMER: You need to figure out what to do with the waste water..... it is not recommended you just dump it down the drain.... though I imagine it will clean your pipes. If you are on septic, it will kill the benificial bacteria in your tank.
**********
Once the acid in the battery has been reduced/removed, take a hacksaw and cut that sucker open. (Try just cutting around the top and pulling the guts out...save the body) Again, wear proper protection and take precautions. Inside you should find anywhere from 10 - 20 pounds of lead. Clean it up if needed, separate anything else from the lead, chop it up into usable sizes and go to town with your bullet molds!
**********
One old battery can give you as much lead in one shot as driving all over town to tire shops looking for free wheel weights. So, 3 uses from one battery... bullets, guncotton, and the plastic body can be resued for a container when it is cleaned out.
**********
The importance of cleaning the lead before melting cannot be stressed enough.... if there are any traces of acid left when melting the lead, you will create very toxic fumes!
And someone correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall that the concentrated acid you get can be used to purify gold ore you dig out of the ground....
END
Friday, May 08, 2009
ten percent
TEN PERCENT
Before we start today, two things. First, I have a guest article for tomorrow. I liked it, it covered an area I have no aptitude or much knowledge in. And the author was kind enough to politely answer the stupid questions I had about it. Second, I really liked the last article by http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/ . His is one of the few talents I look up to and try to emulate. As I said of his book, even if I don't necessarily agree with the long descent theory ( not that I think he is wrong and I am right but mainly because I'm extra paranoid and must look through the pessimistic lens of sudden collapse ), I liked it so much it is in my top ten list of books on survivalism.
*
Ten percent. Ten percent of any group will contain all of the achievers ( actually it is most likely less than that, I think you have to do the 80/20 rule and then take twenty percent of that twenty percent or something like that but my brain hurts today because I ate an abnormally large protein rich breakfast and would prefer to nap instead of think ), and ten percent of any group are the trouble makers ( again, probably lower but just go with it ). That ten percent might influence the 80% that makes up the herd that follows the lead of the minority which makes the generalisation about the group. Luckily, in the case of the Internet, the ten percent that took the lead act positively. Culturally, the vast majority of Net users are decent and unselfish and generally follow a Libertarian code of conduct. Well, at least to start with. I don't know if we have already seen the start of that counter trend. The teeny boppers bringing the cell phone talking in the theatre habit to U-Tube and the like. I could be wrong, perhaps it has always been like that and I'm not seeing something. It's possible, I've always primarily used the Internet for business.
*
Of course, you all know what started this article- the asshat trolls that immediately polluted the comments section. Almost every day, I plead with you to buy my crap. And you all do a fine job supporting Bison. I can't bitch about the paycheck, especially with as few readers as I have. But you don't have to pay a damn thing to be a reader. Everything is free. No pop up ads, even. I give you the product, and if you are satisfied you then pay me in one form or another. It's on the honor system and the majority of you don't abuse that. I am grateful for the support, and for the exemplary conduct. What I can't figure out is why some people seem to feel they have to ruin the whole thing. You got your free product, it didn't cost you anything, so why do you feel you have to try to ruin it? It would be the same as if you got a free cup of lemonade on a very hot day and then pissed in the pitcher so no one else could have a drink.
*
Does the Tragedy Of The Commons now apply to the Internet? Is the social contract breaking down? It would be a shame, since the model so far has been full of benefits. Dare I say it has worked better that the free market system? Maybe it hasn't. Before special interest groups started parasiting the system ( governments, banks, Unions, etc ) the free market worked wonderfully. Is the Internet headed the same direction? Or has a extreme minority caused the illusion of breakdown? One guy could be spoiling the whole thing. Thinking it is a competitor seems simplistic. One doesn't get the feel of evil from them, for one thing. Could it be someone on a religious crusade? This seems more likely. However I offended our Jesus Freak, course language, lack of religious guidance, whatever, he feels he has been chosen by God to shut me down. It is not up to each reader what they should be exposed to, it is up to our One True Way Of Baby Jesus disciple to pick for you what is proper. They tried that in Nazi Germany too by burning impure books. Bush Junior thought he was picked by God himself to purify the world by removing Muslims. So torture was okay.
*
I'll be completely honest with you here. Shutting down the comments section worked wonderfully at starting Bison's end. I lost twenty five percent readership as a result. I didn't actually check the numbers until after I restarted the comments. How the heck did people know to start reading again? That doesn't mean I'll keep the comments if abuse continues. I've lost lots of readers before. I just keep plugging away and I get the numbers back eventually. All of this keeps going through my head, as it does relate to society in general and our breakdown in particular. Which ten percent ( good or evil ) does the herd follow? Why? I know it shows a breakdown of order that goes along with all economic collapses. I get that part. But it seems the Internet was a force of good in a sea of evil for a time. Information wanting to be free was a powerful force freeing the minds of the masses. Perhaps that is what unleashed the backlash. The elites can't have the masses either thinking for themselves or working for themselves. So who is poisoning my well? CIA paid trolls ( I don't delude myself into thinking I'm anything other than one in a long list )? This would fit in with the current mode of taxpayer funded oppression. If true, I'm just like a militia group. Infiltrated by The Man to sow discord and distrust.
*
Perhaps this is a good thing. If I continue to allow the Information Czar trolls to try to undermine my readers they won't try any wet work against me like arranging a bicycle "accident". Perhaps I shouldn't moderate comments after all. See how I did that? I raised all kinds of hard questions about social breakdown and social behavior contracts and when I couldn't come up with an answer I went to the defacto conspiracy theory. Told you I ate too much prior to this.
END
Before we start today, two things. First, I have a guest article for tomorrow. I liked it, it covered an area I have no aptitude or much knowledge in. And the author was kind enough to politely answer the stupid questions I had about it. Second, I really liked the last article by http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/ . His is one of the few talents I look up to and try to emulate. As I said of his book, even if I don't necessarily agree with the long descent theory ( not that I think he is wrong and I am right but mainly because I'm extra paranoid and must look through the pessimistic lens of sudden collapse ), I liked it so much it is in my top ten list of books on survivalism.
*
Ten percent. Ten percent of any group will contain all of the achievers ( actually it is most likely less than that, I think you have to do the 80/20 rule and then take twenty percent of that twenty percent or something like that but my brain hurts today because I ate an abnormally large protein rich breakfast and would prefer to nap instead of think ), and ten percent of any group are the trouble makers ( again, probably lower but just go with it ). That ten percent might influence the 80% that makes up the herd that follows the lead of the minority which makes the generalisation about the group. Luckily, in the case of the Internet, the ten percent that took the lead act positively. Culturally, the vast majority of Net users are decent and unselfish and generally follow a Libertarian code of conduct. Well, at least to start with. I don't know if we have already seen the start of that counter trend. The teeny boppers bringing the cell phone talking in the theatre habit to U-Tube and the like. I could be wrong, perhaps it has always been like that and I'm not seeing something. It's possible, I've always primarily used the Internet for business.
*
Of course, you all know what started this article- the asshat trolls that immediately polluted the comments section. Almost every day, I plead with you to buy my crap. And you all do a fine job supporting Bison. I can't bitch about the paycheck, especially with as few readers as I have. But you don't have to pay a damn thing to be a reader. Everything is free. No pop up ads, even. I give you the product, and if you are satisfied you then pay me in one form or another. It's on the honor system and the majority of you don't abuse that. I am grateful for the support, and for the exemplary conduct. What I can't figure out is why some people seem to feel they have to ruin the whole thing. You got your free product, it didn't cost you anything, so why do you feel you have to try to ruin it? It would be the same as if you got a free cup of lemonade on a very hot day and then pissed in the pitcher so no one else could have a drink.
*
Does the Tragedy Of The Commons now apply to the Internet? Is the social contract breaking down? It would be a shame, since the model so far has been full of benefits. Dare I say it has worked better that the free market system? Maybe it hasn't. Before special interest groups started parasiting the system ( governments, banks, Unions, etc ) the free market worked wonderfully. Is the Internet headed the same direction? Or has a extreme minority caused the illusion of breakdown? One guy could be spoiling the whole thing. Thinking it is a competitor seems simplistic. One doesn't get the feel of evil from them, for one thing. Could it be someone on a religious crusade? This seems more likely. However I offended our Jesus Freak, course language, lack of religious guidance, whatever, he feels he has been chosen by God to shut me down. It is not up to each reader what they should be exposed to, it is up to our One True Way Of Baby Jesus disciple to pick for you what is proper. They tried that in Nazi Germany too by burning impure books. Bush Junior thought he was picked by God himself to purify the world by removing Muslims. So torture was okay.
*
I'll be completely honest with you here. Shutting down the comments section worked wonderfully at starting Bison's end. I lost twenty five percent readership as a result. I didn't actually check the numbers until after I restarted the comments. How the heck did people know to start reading again? That doesn't mean I'll keep the comments if abuse continues. I've lost lots of readers before. I just keep plugging away and I get the numbers back eventually. All of this keeps going through my head, as it does relate to society in general and our breakdown in particular. Which ten percent ( good or evil ) does the herd follow? Why? I know it shows a breakdown of order that goes along with all economic collapses. I get that part. But it seems the Internet was a force of good in a sea of evil for a time. Information wanting to be free was a powerful force freeing the minds of the masses. Perhaps that is what unleashed the backlash. The elites can't have the masses either thinking for themselves or working for themselves. So who is poisoning my well? CIA paid trolls ( I don't delude myself into thinking I'm anything other than one in a long list )? This would fit in with the current mode of taxpayer funded oppression. If true, I'm just like a militia group. Infiltrated by The Man to sow discord and distrust.
*
Perhaps this is a good thing. If I continue to allow the Information Czar trolls to try to undermine my readers they won't try any wet work against me like arranging a bicycle "accident". Perhaps I shouldn't moderate comments after all. See how I did that? I raised all kinds of hard questions about social breakdown and social behavior contracts and when I couldn't come up with an answer I went to the defacto conspiracy theory. Told you I ate too much prior to this.
END
Thursday, May 07, 2009
best case scenario
BEST CASE SCENARIO
I did not reinstate the comments section because of overwhelming demand. Less than six people asked for that. I did it because I missed the feedback from everyone, even the trolls. Without my daily reality check I felt something vital was missing. It took a week for me to figure out the balance I wanted or I would have done it sooner. I didn't want to moderate, not enough time ( and dangerous ). So it finally occurred to me that I could let anyone post and go back later and delete ( I was already reading comments anyway, and it takes a second to delete ). I'm going to try and not censor at all, just keep copyright infringement away ( if I miss something, please let me know ). However, so that I don't have to worry about other crap, please try to contain yourselves from bad mouthing other authors such as Creekmore or Rawles. You can talk trash about me all you want, but don't make me worry about libel. We'll take that issue as it comes. I'm asking nicely now for your cooperation.
*
I'm always running around screaming that the sky is falling ( my e-magazine Chicken Little title not only sounds cool but is a bit of self parody on my ease of panic ). Did you see the season finale of Scrubs last night? The electricity goes out and Barbie screams We're All Going To Die! It was a heart warming moment. Anyway, I know I see our demise at every turn of the corner. I think everyone under reacting is worse, always thinking they have more time to buy their crap. But I know you all look at me, sadly shake your head in weariness, and dismiss me as the boy that cried wolf. Hey, at least I try to keep my sense of humor as I panic. Well, today you caught me me a good mood so I'll talk about what the best case scenario might look like.
*
Looking again back through history, there are plenty of empires that slowly faded rather than crashed. I'm not saying I think that will be our fate, since we've wiped out our resource base whereas before those empires just destroyed their economies through imperial overreach. I'm saying if the best case scenario happens we can fade rather than crash. I think things will slowly get worse until we cross an unknown threshold and that will trip us over the abyss, but I'm trying to stay positive for now. Let's just assume it is possible we can hang on by our fingertips and just keep accepting lowering standards of living as a pleasant alternative to a massive die-off. Prep like tomorrow is the Apocalypse, hope tomorrow is just a long descent.
*
Let's say our economy continues to contract ( safe assumption- as someone said the stock market is to our economy as the local weather is to global climate, so forget about this suckers rally ). We keep oh so slowly falling back in expectations and resource availability. Imports of oil keep contracting, unemployment keeps going up, government keeps going towards totalitarianism. Inflation keeps getting worse and worse. You keep deleting parts of your diet. First you give up milk, then cut down on store bought produce. First you give up chicken, then beef, then finally you cut the number of days you eat more than an ounce or two of meat as a dish flavoring. Despite the health concerns, margarine replaces butter. You stop eating out, you stop buying convenience foods. You finally jingle mail the house keys and get an apartment. You finally have the wife take a pay cut and work within walking distance since used car parts and mechanical labor become too expensive. You take your kid out of college and give him back his old room ( or move him to the garage since his room is being rented out ).
*
You start keeping five gallon jugs full of water so you can bathe and flush the toilet, since keeping the thermostat at fifty seems to allow the pipes to keep freezing. You keep your JC Penney credit card and pay its thirty percent interest because you need to keep buying the family thermal underwear and sweaters to live in a cold home ( the crap imported from China is low quality but all that is available, so it is hard to get one garment to last more than one season ). Eventually you give up the last car. The insurance keeps getting canceled as the companies keep going bankrupt, until you can no longer keep starting over with payments. Gasoline rationing scarcely matters after that. They start to ration your electricity and you can't do much more than keep the lights on. They will up your allotted kilowatts if you buy an energy saving LED TV, but you don't want to pay 30% on that.
*
You had been hunting rabbits around suburbia, but they caught one guy killing rats with a pellet gun and busted him on both poaching and discharging a firearm so you stopped doing that ( the guy got three years, no parole ). You tried chickens, but a bug only diet killed them and you can't afford more chicks or feed, or worry about registering them with the USDA. You use your ration card to buy meat at the market and worry about mad cow disease. You wonder how long it will be before they go Soylent Green. There are almost no cars on the street, but the smog gets worse as China keep burning more coal. You also worry about crime, but your federal license came through at last for a box of ammunition for your registered weapon ( registration included a mandatory installation of a thumb print control safety ). Now you can at least defend the home with more than a crossbow. Last month your oldest kid got sick, but the wait at the ER was only 48 hours, so you got some meds in time. Although you started feeling a tickle in your throat right afterwards. Luckily your FedMedCard allows herbal remedies which are much cheaper. You didn't need to do a payroll deduct for that.
*
I could go on, but the point is ( besides running out of writing time ) that things will be adaptable, if barely, as we slowly run out of energy. Remember, this is the best case scenario. Still want to depend on the market economy, stay in debt, keep paying rent, keep a car? Junk land and informal employment looks better and better the farther you go into the future.
END
Buy, crap, now, www.bisonpress.com
I did not reinstate the comments section because of overwhelming demand. Less than six people asked for that. I did it because I missed the feedback from everyone, even the trolls. Without my daily reality check I felt something vital was missing. It took a week for me to figure out the balance I wanted or I would have done it sooner. I didn't want to moderate, not enough time ( and dangerous ). So it finally occurred to me that I could let anyone post and go back later and delete ( I was already reading comments anyway, and it takes a second to delete ). I'm going to try and not censor at all, just keep copyright infringement away ( if I miss something, please let me know ). However, so that I don't have to worry about other crap, please try to contain yourselves from bad mouthing other authors such as Creekmore or Rawles. You can talk trash about me all you want, but don't make me worry about libel. We'll take that issue as it comes. I'm asking nicely now for your cooperation.
*
I'm always running around screaming that the sky is falling ( my e-magazine Chicken Little title not only sounds cool but is a bit of self parody on my ease of panic ). Did you see the season finale of Scrubs last night? The electricity goes out and Barbie screams We're All Going To Die! It was a heart warming moment. Anyway, I know I see our demise at every turn of the corner. I think everyone under reacting is worse, always thinking they have more time to buy their crap. But I know you all look at me, sadly shake your head in weariness, and dismiss me as the boy that cried wolf. Hey, at least I try to keep my sense of humor as I panic. Well, today you caught me me a good mood so I'll talk about what the best case scenario might look like.
*
Looking again back through history, there are plenty of empires that slowly faded rather than crashed. I'm not saying I think that will be our fate, since we've wiped out our resource base whereas before those empires just destroyed their economies through imperial overreach. I'm saying if the best case scenario happens we can fade rather than crash. I think things will slowly get worse until we cross an unknown threshold and that will trip us over the abyss, but I'm trying to stay positive for now. Let's just assume it is possible we can hang on by our fingertips and just keep accepting lowering standards of living as a pleasant alternative to a massive die-off. Prep like tomorrow is the Apocalypse, hope tomorrow is just a long descent.
*
Let's say our economy continues to contract ( safe assumption- as someone said the stock market is to our economy as the local weather is to global climate, so forget about this suckers rally ). We keep oh so slowly falling back in expectations and resource availability. Imports of oil keep contracting, unemployment keeps going up, government keeps going towards totalitarianism. Inflation keeps getting worse and worse. You keep deleting parts of your diet. First you give up milk, then cut down on store bought produce. First you give up chicken, then beef, then finally you cut the number of days you eat more than an ounce or two of meat as a dish flavoring. Despite the health concerns, margarine replaces butter. You stop eating out, you stop buying convenience foods. You finally jingle mail the house keys and get an apartment. You finally have the wife take a pay cut and work within walking distance since used car parts and mechanical labor become too expensive. You take your kid out of college and give him back his old room ( or move him to the garage since his room is being rented out ).
*
You start keeping five gallon jugs full of water so you can bathe and flush the toilet, since keeping the thermostat at fifty seems to allow the pipes to keep freezing. You keep your JC Penney credit card and pay its thirty percent interest because you need to keep buying the family thermal underwear and sweaters to live in a cold home ( the crap imported from China is low quality but all that is available, so it is hard to get one garment to last more than one season ). Eventually you give up the last car. The insurance keeps getting canceled as the companies keep going bankrupt, until you can no longer keep starting over with payments. Gasoline rationing scarcely matters after that. They start to ration your electricity and you can't do much more than keep the lights on. They will up your allotted kilowatts if you buy an energy saving LED TV, but you don't want to pay 30% on that.
*
You had been hunting rabbits around suburbia, but they caught one guy killing rats with a pellet gun and busted him on both poaching and discharging a firearm so you stopped doing that ( the guy got three years, no parole ). You tried chickens, but a bug only diet killed them and you can't afford more chicks or feed, or worry about registering them with the USDA. You use your ration card to buy meat at the market and worry about mad cow disease. You wonder how long it will be before they go Soylent Green. There are almost no cars on the street, but the smog gets worse as China keep burning more coal. You also worry about crime, but your federal license came through at last for a box of ammunition for your registered weapon ( registration included a mandatory installation of a thumb print control safety ). Now you can at least defend the home with more than a crossbow. Last month your oldest kid got sick, but the wait at the ER was only 48 hours, so you got some meds in time. Although you started feeling a tickle in your throat right afterwards. Luckily your FedMedCard allows herbal remedies which are much cheaper. You didn't need to do a payroll deduct for that.
*
I could go on, but the point is ( besides running out of writing time ) that things will be adaptable, if barely, as we slowly run out of energy. Remember, this is the best case scenario. Still want to depend on the market economy, stay in debt, keep paying rent, keep a car? Junk land and informal employment looks better and better the farther you go into the future.
END
Buy, crap, now, www.bisonpress.com
comments open
COMMENTS OPEN
Okay, kids, have a blast. I've allowed comments again, feel free to go back to all the old ones I had blocked. I will now delete certain comments. Copyrighted material. Repeated posts. Idiocy having nothing to do with my article. I don't want to moderate, so anyone is free to post. I'll come along afterwards and delete the crap. I won't censor, just take away stuff I can get in legal issues over. If we degenerate into nothing but cussing at each other or other troll crap, I'll change it so only registered users can comment, so police yourself. Okay, fire away.
PS- normal article to follow at regular time.
Okay, kids, have a blast. I've allowed comments again, feel free to go back to all the old ones I had blocked. I will now delete certain comments. Copyrighted material. Repeated posts. Idiocy having nothing to do with my article. I don't want to moderate, so anyone is free to post. I'll come along afterwards and delete the crap. I won't censor, just take away stuff I can get in legal issues over. If we degenerate into nothing but cussing at each other or other troll crap, I'll change it so only registered users can comment, so police yourself. Okay, fire away.
PS- normal article to follow at regular time.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
safety net holes
SAFETY NET HOLES
The smart thing to do is to prepare as if we were in for a quick collapse. If it happens, you're covered and if it doesn't you have more time to refine your plans. And by the by, a thirty year mortgage on the perfect farm is not preparing for an immediate collapse. Today's article is another example why this is a good idea ( prepping for a sudden collapse, not the farm mortgage ). Initial signs that the government food safety net is starting to fray, even perhaps get a hole or two in it.
*
If you are a good little survivalist and buy your children lumps of coal for Christmas because not only is this a carbon fuel stockpile but also because they are spoiled little bastards ( perhaps not technically as you and the spouse are married but the child does have several facial characteristics of the mail carrier ) and do nothing but sit around and play video games ( which only teaches them how to waste ammunition ), then you have already played the "what if" game in your spare moments gazing in rapt confusion at your cubicles work monitor. Call it strategic planning while convincing the spouse the budget needs a junk land payment slot. In one of these scenarios perhaps the government fills in as an income source ( temporary welfare such as unemployment or Food Stamps ). Right after you lose your job and right before a few Pakistani nukes fall on Washington DC ( we should be so lucky ).
*
This plan might have a few flaws in it. For one, the government is shrinking its food allotment. Now, generally, the government moves with cunning and stealth. Oh, not when they are blowing up the one spot in the Pentagon that is deserted by all but three generals that were told to report to duty there three minutes before the bunker buster missile struck ( for "disciplinary action" ). Then they are pretty quick to blame a bunch of towel heads flying a jumbo jet ( curiously, the hole in the side of the Pentagon was smaller than the jet fuselage, but that is easily explained by the Magic Bullet Theory that was borrowed from the JFK assassination ). But the usually tactics are to try to pull a fast one by stealth and misdirection. We've already talked about barnyard flu so I won't harp too much on misdirection. Stealth is moving slowly but surely in the desired direction without any sudden movement. Don't panic the voters, they might find out that phallic licking toad FDR stacked the Supreme Court to declare the Republic null and void. Don't share life saving information with the easily panicked public, just keep fudging the numbers to have a happy, happy, joy, joy look.
*
Already, food welfare has been cut back indirectly. Seniors get their monthly welfare check and the yearly COLA is less than true inflation since energy and food are excluded in the calculations ( as was housing for a time ). If you are spending twenty percent of your budget on food and inflation is twice what was reported, any non-food increase cuts down on the number of groceries you can buy. A good indicator was last years food drive. The same people donated and spent the same amount of money buying the food but the amount given was short twenty percent. The same amount as food inflation for the previous year. Now, the latest and greatest. The amount of federal subsidized commodity foods is falling slightly. Now, please keep in mind that my observations are personal, localized and just might be false. I'm not exactly doing any system wide research. I'm just reported on what I'm seeing here. A ten to fifteen percent decrease in government food deliveries at a time when demand for the food bank services are increasing.
*
Commodities foods differ. If you are an Indian reservation you get a lot more good stuff like refrigerated foods, meat, cheese, etc. Seniors get a lot of juice and produce ( canned ). We get the bottom of the barrel for our USDA commodities to give out to needy families. A few cans of veggies, noodles, beans. When they're lucky they get canned meat and dry cereal, occasionally dry milk. The variety is different every time. But what I am comparing is the totally amount of food sent, not the types. And the amount is down. If a year ago they sent a ton per shipment, this year it is down to 1800 pounds or so. And I am comparing similar shipments. For instance, both shipments had no juice which would have made one weigh more. This could be a one time dip, or it could be the start of a trend where the amount of welfare food is slowly eased back. The government can't increase the amount of food it buys, so it decreases what you get to make up for the increased demand. It is not just an inability to create funds, I think it points to the lack of available food.
*
Take it for what its worth. Panic, or don't. Just don't blame me when Uncle Obammy has no groceries for you.
END
Buy My Crap at www.bisonpress.com
The smart thing to do is to prepare as if we were in for a quick collapse. If it happens, you're covered and if it doesn't you have more time to refine your plans. And by the by, a thirty year mortgage on the perfect farm is not preparing for an immediate collapse. Today's article is another example why this is a good idea ( prepping for a sudden collapse, not the farm mortgage ). Initial signs that the government food safety net is starting to fray, even perhaps get a hole or two in it.
*
If you are a good little survivalist and buy your children lumps of coal for Christmas because not only is this a carbon fuel stockpile but also because they are spoiled little bastards ( perhaps not technically as you and the spouse are married but the child does have several facial characteristics of the mail carrier ) and do nothing but sit around and play video games ( which only teaches them how to waste ammunition ), then you have already played the "what if" game in your spare moments gazing in rapt confusion at your cubicles work monitor. Call it strategic planning while convincing the spouse the budget needs a junk land payment slot. In one of these scenarios perhaps the government fills in as an income source ( temporary welfare such as unemployment or Food Stamps ). Right after you lose your job and right before a few Pakistani nukes fall on Washington DC ( we should be so lucky ).
*
This plan might have a few flaws in it. For one, the government is shrinking its food allotment. Now, generally, the government moves with cunning and stealth. Oh, not when they are blowing up the one spot in the Pentagon that is deserted by all but three generals that were told to report to duty there three minutes before the bunker buster missile struck ( for "disciplinary action" ). Then they are pretty quick to blame a bunch of towel heads flying a jumbo jet ( curiously, the hole in the side of the Pentagon was smaller than the jet fuselage, but that is easily explained by the Magic Bullet Theory that was borrowed from the JFK assassination ). But the usually tactics are to try to pull a fast one by stealth and misdirection. We've already talked about barnyard flu so I won't harp too much on misdirection. Stealth is moving slowly but surely in the desired direction without any sudden movement. Don't panic the voters, they might find out that phallic licking toad FDR stacked the Supreme Court to declare the Republic null and void. Don't share life saving information with the easily panicked public, just keep fudging the numbers to have a happy, happy, joy, joy look.
*
Already, food welfare has been cut back indirectly. Seniors get their monthly welfare check and the yearly COLA is less than true inflation since energy and food are excluded in the calculations ( as was housing for a time ). If you are spending twenty percent of your budget on food and inflation is twice what was reported, any non-food increase cuts down on the number of groceries you can buy. A good indicator was last years food drive. The same people donated and spent the same amount of money buying the food but the amount given was short twenty percent. The same amount as food inflation for the previous year. Now, the latest and greatest. The amount of federal subsidized commodity foods is falling slightly. Now, please keep in mind that my observations are personal, localized and just might be false. I'm not exactly doing any system wide research. I'm just reported on what I'm seeing here. A ten to fifteen percent decrease in government food deliveries at a time when demand for the food bank services are increasing.
*
Commodities foods differ. If you are an Indian reservation you get a lot more good stuff like refrigerated foods, meat, cheese, etc. Seniors get a lot of juice and produce ( canned ). We get the bottom of the barrel for our USDA commodities to give out to needy families. A few cans of veggies, noodles, beans. When they're lucky they get canned meat and dry cereal, occasionally dry milk. The variety is different every time. But what I am comparing is the totally amount of food sent, not the types. And the amount is down. If a year ago they sent a ton per shipment, this year it is down to 1800 pounds or so. And I am comparing similar shipments. For instance, both shipments had no juice which would have made one weigh more. This could be a one time dip, or it could be the start of a trend where the amount of welfare food is slowly eased back. The government can't increase the amount of food it buys, so it decreases what you get to make up for the increased demand. It is not just an inability to create funds, I think it points to the lack of available food.
*
Take it for what its worth. Panic, or don't. Just don't blame me when Uncle Obammy has no groceries for you.
END
Buy My Crap at www.bisonpress.com
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
states rights
STATES RIGHTS
Before we start today butchering another sacred cow, I would just like to throw out a link for you. This is basically the same thing I'm saying, how energy decreases are the coup de grace for our economy. When I say it I'm full of crap and ignorant. When an author that didn't self publish says it you all nod your heads wisely like you knew all along what a wonderful argument it was. http://www.kunstler.com/mags_diary25.html
*
If you could paint a picture of the recent articles on states passing laws strengthening gun ownership ( essentially allowing home grown guns exemption from federal laws as long as they stay local ) it would most likely involve a bunch of flag waving, the statue of liberty, portraits of our founding fathers and perhaps even apple pie and a Chevrolet. Everyone is getting hard nipples and moist crotches over this development. If I wasn't such a bastard, if I didn't enjoy pointing out the flaws in emotionalism over rational thinking, I wouldn't want to tell you that you might as well save your excitement. As in, don't get too happy because you'll just be disappointed. Kind of like all these folks mistakenly thinking they can retire and enjoy life soon. They might have promised you a pension, but they strongly implied that if I went to school, worked hard, paid taxes and obeyed all laws I wouldn't end up in a cannibals stew pot in a radioactive craphole that used to be this country. They lied to both of us.
*
If you would like solid proof of how much the Federales think about states rights, please turn to exhibit A. California medical marijuana. Even while in solid compliance with state law, operators of those clinics were harassed by the Feds. A recent announcement claimed that the Feds would only intervene if Fed law was breached, but we all know how the definition of "is" can be manipulated. The only thing the states are allowed to do is to determine the severity of punishment, not actually whether something can be legal or not. Even recent firearms victories are little more than telling states not to be too heavy handed- such as telling DC it can't ban pistols totally ( if just a few politically connected individuals are granted licences than the guns haven't been banned, just regulated ).
*
The Feds stole their power fair and square from the states by throwing recent immigrants into battle as cannon fodder and they are not about to give up those gains. The illusion of states rights reminds me of the "fight" between Democrats and Republicans. It is all an illusion. There is no substance behind it. Oh, the fight is real enough, the combatants might actually believe, but in the end nothing is allowed to change. It is really pretty simple. Might makes right. As long as the states are not allowed to have any real power ( what do you think Fed control of the reserves is about? ) they will remain mere bitches. They can huff and puff as much as they like, make all the noise they want. That is part of the illusion of democracy. But they won't be allowed to step out of line. The feds will go along with whatever grandstanding there is until it stands in their way. Then it will be forcibly removed. The local LEO's stand behind their state, apply local law and either the Feds take jurisdiction or they deputize the deputies. The Supreme Court sanctioned the theft of the presidency, you can be sure they will sanction the Federales to do as they wish regardless of state laws.
*
So don't get all hot and bothered over any new state laws contesting the Federal Police States Of America. It is either hot air getting a local politician elected or it is a futile gesture. Only when our society has collapsed enough that the Fed loses control of the states will the states be free to govern as they wish ( and don't forget of the possibility of state politicians being bought to trade your life for continued affiliation with the Feds ). Until blood is shed there will be no power given up at the Federal level. Pieces of paper by politicians are good for wiping your bum with and little else.
*
Because I know a few of you will have your head half way up your bum ( speaking of bums ), allow me to be as clear as I can. I support states rights. I wish the Feds had a lot less power and taxing authority. I also don't feel it is worth fighting over. The central state will devolve with the oil supply. We just need to keep out of the way of its destruction and enjoy the aftermath. I am not militia, but a survivor. Macho gets you killed. That does not preclude revenge of course. As long as my family is not targeted I'll let the idiots have at each other ( and, no, fighting does not protect your family from future threats as they will be used as pawns to control you now ). Wishing for something such as state supremacy does not mean you should trick yourself into thinking it is currently possible.
END
Buy my crap at www.bisonpress.com
Before we start today butchering another sacred cow, I would just like to throw out a link for you. This is basically the same thing I'm saying, how energy decreases are the coup de grace for our economy. When I say it I'm full of crap and ignorant. When an author that didn't self publish says it you all nod your heads wisely like you knew all along what a wonderful argument it was. http://www.kunstler.com/mags_diary25.html
*
If you could paint a picture of the recent articles on states passing laws strengthening gun ownership ( essentially allowing home grown guns exemption from federal laws as long as they stay local ) it would most likely involve a bunch of flag waving, the statue of liberty, portraits of our founding fathers and perhaps even apple pie and a Chevrolet. Everyone is getting hard nipples and moist crotches over this development. If I wasn't such a bastard, if I didn't enjoy pointing out the flaws in emotionalism over rational thinking, I wouldn't want to tell you that you might as well save your excitement. As in, don't get too happy because you'll just be disappointed. Kind of like all these folks mistakenly thinking they can retire and enjoy life soon. They might have promised you a pension, but they strongly implied that if I went to school, worked hard, paid taxes and obeyed all laws I wouldn't end up in a cannibals stew pot in a radioactive craphole that used to be this country. They lied to both of us.
*
If you would like solid proof of how much the Federales think about states rights, please turn to exhibit A. California medical marijuana. Even while in solid compliance with state law, operators of those clinics were harassed by the Feds. A recent announcement claimed that the Feds would only intervene if Fed law was breached, but we all know how the definition of "is" can be manipulated. The only thing the states are allowed to do is to determine the severity of punishment, not actually whether something can be legal or not. Even recent firearms victories are little more than telling states not to be too heavy handed- such as telling DC it can't ban pistols totally ( if just a few politically connected individuals are granted licences than the guns haven't been banned, just regulated ).
*
The Feds stole their power fair and square from the states by throwing recent immigrants into battle as cannon fodder and they are not about to give up those gains. The illusion of states rights reminds me of the "fight" between Democrats and Republicans. It is all an illusion. There is no substance behind it. Oh, the fight is real enough, the combatants might actually believe, but in the end nothing is allowed to change. It is really pretty simple. Might makes right. As long as the states are not allowed to have any real power ( what do you think Fed control of the reserves is about? ) they will remain mere bitches. They can huff and puff as much as they like, make all the noise they want. That is part of the illusion of democracy. But they won't be allowed to step out of line. The feds will go along with whatever grandstanding there is until it stands in their way. Then it will be forcibly removed. The local LEO's stand behind their state, apply local law and either the Feds take jurisdiction or they deputize the deputies. The Supreme Court sanctioned the theft of the presidency, you can be sure they will sanction the Federales to do as they wish regardless of state laws.
*
So don't get all hot and bothered over any new state laws contesting the Federal Police States Of America. It is either hot air getting a local politician elected or it is a futile gesture. Only when our society has collapsed enough that the Fed loses control of the states will the states be free to govern as they wish ( and don't forget of the possibility of state politicians being bought to trade your life for continued affiliation with the Feds ). Until blood is shed there will be no power given up at the Federal level. Pieces of paper by politicians are good for wiping your bum with and little else.
*
Because I know a few of you will have your head half way up your bum ( speaking of bums ), allow me to be as clear as I can. I support states rights. I wish the Feds had a lot less power and taxing authority. I also don't feel it is worth fighting over. The central state will devolve with the oil supply. We just need to keep out of the way of its destruction and enjoy the aftermath. I am not militia, but a survivor. Macho gets you killed. That does not preclude revenge of course. As long as my family is not targeted I'll let the idiots have at each other ( and, no, fighting does not protect your family from future threats as they will be used as pawns to control you now ). Wishing for something such as state supremacy does not mean you should trick yourself into thinking it is currently possible.
END
Buy my crap at www.bisonpress.com
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